“When you said, Seek ye my face: my heart said unto you, your face, Lord, will I seek. 9. Hide not your face far from me; put not your servant away in anger; you have been my help, leave me not, neither forsake me, O God of my salvation.”
Throughout the Psalms we find David, and others, crying out to God, longing for His presence in their lives. We have to remember that they did not have the presence of the Holy Spirit in them as we do, but they knew that God’s presence was very important. This is why they wrote about the tabernacle or temple so much, because God was present among His people in the Holy of Holies in the tabernacle and the temple. When I read this, I asked myself if I really longed for the Lord’s presence, or do I just take it for granted. I’m asking that question for you too as we explore this need. First, we need to realize that today we are God’s temples, and that through His Holy Spirit, He has taken abode in our lives. We have the presence of God in us, but at times we still feel as though He is far away. One thing we have to remember during these times is that God did not move. He is where He has promised to be all of the time. Therefore, when we do not keenly feel Christ’s presence in our lives, we have a spiritual problem that we need to take to Him, repent of it and claim His presence. Remember, if you are a Christian, the Holy Spirit lives within your life, and He is, indeed, with you all of the time. Second, we need to realize that when we feel that God is not near us, it is most likely because of sin. James reminded us of this in James 1:14-15: “But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. 15. Then when lust has conceived, it brings forth sin, and sin, when it is finished, brings forth death.” Actually, during most of these times, we know what the sin problem is; we just need to repent of it, confess it, be forgiven and move on in our lives. Sometimes we are reluctant to admit that the problem is sin. The sin might be some habit that we do not want to give up, but is harming us spiritually. There might be any number of reasons why we are reluctant to confess, but we surely need to confess if we want to experience the closeness to God that He has given us through His Spirit. Third, we need to remember that God wants us to feel close to Him, because That is where our security lies. This is why James wrote in James 4:7-8: “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. 8. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double minded.” James wrote that we are to “submit to God.” If we have submitted our hearts and lives to sin, we are not submitted to God. Therefore, the first thing to do when we feel that God is far away from us, is to submit to Him instead of whatever it is that is making us feel that He is not near. When we submit to God, then we are able to resist the devil, and since it is God that the devil is dealing with at this point he will flee from us. James also writes that we should consciously “draw near to God.” We know that Jesus brought us to the Father by faith, but we need to set our hearts and minds on the presence of God instead of whatever it is that is trying to come between God and us. The promise is that when we draw near to God, He will draw near to us. In other words, we will have renewed fellowship with Him. We will experience His closeness. When we realize that we are close to God, we are more secure in our Christian lives and more fruitful in our Christian service. I don’t know where you are in your relationship with God right now, but I do know that if you feel He is not close, the problem is within you; it is not God's fault. Through Christ and the Holy Spirit everything has been done that needs to be done to save you and to help you live in the security of God’s presence. Find out what it is that is keeping you from feeling His closeness and deal with it through prayer. Bro. Joe
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AuthorDr. Joe Beauchamp is the author of this blog and website. Categories
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