THE PRESENCE
OF GOD
BY CARRIE F. JUDD
In Exodus xxxiii:15,16,
we read of Moses, that he said unto the Lord, “If Thy presence go not with me,
carry us not up hence. For wherein shall it be known here that I and Thy people
have found grace in Thy sight? Is it not that Thou goest with us? So shall we
be separated, I and Thy people, from all the people that are upon the face of
the earth.”
This is ever the
language of God’s trusting children. Realizing their own utter weakness, they
are not willing to take one step without the presence of Him who alone is able
to direct their paths and save them from confusion. Rather would they come to a
dead halt in their Christian life than attempt to go onward and upward without
the “Lord, their banner.”
Most necessary is it
that our enemies should know that we have “found grace” in the sight of the
Lord, for “if God be for us, who can be against us?” The most gracious sign of
His loving favor is, that His presence is with His people, and if His presence
is with us, it will be manifest in victory over our adversaries. We are told
that those who put their trust in the Lord shall be hid in the secret of His presence
(Psa. xxx:20), and it is a blessed thought that the very presence which is the
security of His children, is the destruction of His enemies. We read, “as wax
melteth before the fire, so let the wicked perish at the presence of
God.”-(Psa. lxviii: 2.)
Dear reader, if God is
with us wherever we god, we shall have no need of waging our own battles, the
very “presence of His glory” will be sufficient to fill our adversaries with
dismay, for He has trampled on all the power of the enemy, and well we know that
“He has triumphed gloriously.”
Temptations never cease
in this life of faith, but what matters it to us how formidable they may
appear, if only our Lord has gone up with us, and we are “hid in the secret
ofHis presence.” No evil can touch us there. The more numerous the adversaries
who come out against us, the more we shall see the Lords’ glory manifested in
destroying them, and we shall be able to rejoice in the warfare which shows the
prowess of our God. “Kings of armies did flee apace: and she that tarried at
home divided the spoil.”-(Psa. lxviii:12.)
Dear fellow-Christians,
let us cease our own vain endeavors to overcome the enemies who have defeated
us times without number, and let us trust wholly in Him who “strentheneth the
spoiled against the strong.”-(Amos v:9.)
It cannot be known that
the Lord is our God and that we are
His people, unless He goeth with us, and if His presence is with us we shall
inevitably be a separate and perculiar people, “Holy unto the Land.” The very fact
of our living continually in the light of God’s presence would keep us separate
from the subtle and insidious pleasures of this word, and make it impossible
for us to have “fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness.”
Moses speaks of this
very separation as consequent upon the presence of Godin their midst; he says,
“so shall we be separated, I and Thy
people, from all the people that are upon the face of the earth.” Separated
from the vanity of the world, not by our own ineffectual attempts to live apart
form it, but by the presence of God in our hearts, which will keep the world
apart form us. Our Saviour says, “If ye were of the world, the world would love
his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.”
As Israel of old was called to be, separate from the idolatrous nations
surrounding them, so the children of God are “chosen out of the world,” that
they may serve Him with undivided hearts and be made “partakers of the heavenly
calling.” The world will hate us for the very reason of our obeying Christ’s
call to be separate from it, but blessed is it to have the hatred of that, the
friendship of which is “enmity with God.” Let us ponder solemnly the words,
“whosever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.”-(Jas.
iv:4.)
Many dear souls are
longing for a greater spirit of consecration, but this of necessity involves a
practical separation from “the pomps and vanity of this wicked world, and all
the sinful lusts of the flesh.” The prospect of such a separation may seem hard
to one who knows nothing of God’s love, but to the heart which has seen ever so
faintly the ineffable “glory of His grace,” the world has lost its charms, and
to be wholly set apart fro the Lord seems a life of unspeakable blessedness and
beauty. The sanctified heart can say with the Psalmist, “In Thy presence is fullness of joy.”
The subtle assaults of
the prince of this world are soon conquered if the presence of God surrounds us
continually, for het battle is then His, not ours. “Through God we shall do
valiantly, for He it is that shall tread down our enemies.”-(Psa. lx:12.) It is
only when we are no abiding in our Saviour that we are vanquished.
Let us plead for His
presence in our hearts; let us be willing to stand still rather than to make
one move without Him, and to us as to Joshua will be given the assuring word,
“as I was with Moses, so I will be with
thee: I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee.”-(Josh. i:5.)
“Be strong and of a good
courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed. for the Lord thy God is with theee withersoever thou goest.”-(Josh.
i:9.)
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It is at the throne of
Grace that we bear fruit to Christ,-made fruit-bearers in being made, through
the Spirit, suppliants.
The name of Christ
presented in faith at the throne is the victory that overcometh. Only to think
of the grace that has elected us to bear that Name to the Father, to receive in
Christ’s name the magnificent awards which belong to that Name.
Let us make more of the
name of Jesus, have it more in our hearts, utter it with our lips, so that the
world will be resounded with the Name that is “above every name.”
