I heard recently as I listened to a sermon that if we are not hungry physically that means we are sick, and it is the same spiritually. If we are not hungry for God, then we are spiritually sick. I want to hunger and thirst after God. Oh, if we all could just taste and see that He is good, then we would hunger for Him and long for His presence and not just His presents. God is ever-present, but we still need to be intentional about being in His presence to experience who He really is.
He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress; My God, in Him I will trust.” Surely He shall deliver you from the snare of the fowler and from the perilous pestilence. He shall cover you with His feathers, and under His wings you shall take refuge; His truth shall be your shield and buckler. Psalm 91:1-4
There is no better place to be than abiding in His presence where there is safety and truth. And it is the truth that sets us free. The first family in the Bible after they fell in the trap of the sinister serpent’s web of deception, hid from the presence of the Lord among the trees of the garden. After sinning, Adam and Eve could no longer feel comfortable abiding in the presence of the Almighty God, who is holy, so instead they tried to find protection from His creation. They strayed from His presence and no longer took refuge in Him. Their son, Cain, ran from the presence of God to another land after he killed his brother Abel because God was pleased with his brother’s offering, but God did not accept his. Sin brought separation from God’s presence.
Now where there is remission of these, there is no longer an offering for sin. Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He consecrated for us, through the veil, that is, His flesh, and having a High Priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Hebrews 10:18-22
Thankfully, we now have access to enter the Holy of Holies to enter the throne room of the King, our Heavenly Father, by the blood of Jesus, who became our perfect sin offering. Jesus, the Son, set us free and who the Son sets free is free indeed. But our freedom came at a price as Jesus while dying on the cross so that we could have eternal life, felt the absence of His Father’s presence. GotQuestions.org explains this feeling of separation from the Father.
In those awful moments, as evil men were allowed to do whatever they wanted to Jesus, our Lord expressed His feelings of abandonment. God placed the sins of the world on His Son, and Jesus for a time felt the desolation of being unconscious of His Father’s presence. It was at this time that “God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:21).
Jesus bruised, beaten and bloodied on the cross, cried out asking God why He had forsaken Him. The same words were groaned in anguish by David in Psalm 22:1. Could we too feel the absence of an ever-present God? I was watching a video for one of my Bible studies recently and the presenter quoted from an author and although I cannot remember the exact words, he basically said that you can only feel the absence of someone if you have a relationship with them. Jesus and David had a relationship with God, and they could probably feel a lack of His presence. This is not like us saying that God is not in the schools in some countries because they have taken the Bible out of these institutions. Having the Bible and knowing it does not mean that there is the presence of God. Satan is well versed in the Bible. He uses it to trick many Christians to move away from God’s presence just as he twisted God’s words to Eve. The presence of the Lord offers us more than Bible memorization does.
You will show me the path of life; In Your presence is fullness of joy; At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore. Psalm 16:11
It is good to know the Bible because it is the Word of God, but it is a relationship with Him that will let us obey His words. Because if we love Him, we will obey His commandments. I have learned this lesson more and more over the past year as I spend more time alone with God and He has become my refuge, strength and peace. And there are times when obeying Him seems difficult, but He strengthens me through His Spirit to obey Him. And in His Spirit is love, peace and joy. I am grateful that Jesus prayed to the Father to give us this Helper.
“If you love Me, keep My commandments. And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever— the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you. I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you. John 14:15-18
Not everyone is going to have the presence of God through the Spirit of truth. But He lives in those who have received Him, and they see Him, and they know Him. For those of us who have received the Spirit of truth, He is God with us so we can be in His presence.
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