Presence

This morning I didn't get to sleep in like I wanted to. I was awakened. Not by my toddler. But my bladder. After getting up God was ready to start the day. Even if I was not. I marched my happy little tail into the living room and decided to get my read on. I was trying to find some amazing mind blowing scripture to go with the service this morning. I couldn't. I've realized that the more I try, the less it works. God does a better job than I do.

I started flipping through my Bible and came to Exodus. I wanted to read about the freedom of the slaves from Egypt. Being Memorial Day weekend and all. By the way, thank you to the Vets who have served or are serving in our military. We couldn't be who we are without your help. You fight for our freedom here in the USA and we appreciate it. Sorry for my bunny trail. Back to the word of God. I stopped at Exodus 33. I have pictures in my Bible and that page just happened to open with a picture in it. A scripture JUMPED off the page.

The Lord replied, "My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest."

Then Moses said to him, "If your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here."

Exodus 33:14 & 15

Lately, I have been working on a quote I heard that completely shook me. I can't remember who said it and I don't remember the exact wording. But it was about the Presence of the Lord. This individual was talking about how they were having a conversation with a Pastor about how they were going to ask all these people from the Bible all these questions. For example, what was it like living in the Garden of Eden? What was it like to see fire fall from Heaven? What was it like to walk through the Red Sea on dry land? Did you feel grief when people knocked on the door of the ark as the rain started?

The Pastor mentioned to the person if they had ever thought about what those people would ask us? His response being something like, "Why would they care about our life? They lived in these amazing times where these miracles happened. Amazing powerful sightings."

To which the Pastor replied, "What if they asked you what it was like to be in the Presence of God always?"

I was dumbfounded at this question. What did that mean? After some research, I found out that the Presence of God wasn't with people in the old testament like He is with us. It makes me look at scripture and my life completely different. Yes, I know that God is always with me and watching me. But His PRESENCE is at my hand whenever I want. I can sit down and talk with God and know He will answer. Most of the time not how I would like him to. 

Could you imagine not being able to be in God's presence? It would be as though you could only have partial visitation with God on Sunday morning. That's it. How would things change? With that being said, go to church this morning with a different perspective. Don't go in thinking it's just another Sunday. Go in knowing that you get to be IN the presence of God with a group of people who love him like you do. Go in expecting great things to happen. Unlike Moses, we don't have to ask God to keep his presence with us. Because it is already there. And, like myself, I know many of us take that for granted. 

HAPPY SUNDAY!