In My Presence — In His Presence
I’m on Bentley (grand-dog) duty again so inspiration comes for another blog. This one came easily. He can’t see, but his hearing and smelling are super sharp. And, oh, how he loves my touch, my scratching his tummy, my closeness. So, he knows where I am at any given moment. And if a door comes between him and me, he scratches it to let me know he wants in. He craves my presence. And he MUST sit as close to me as he can. If he’s close to me, in my presence, his world is at peace and comfort.
And, that’s how I want to feel about being in God’s presence. Craving His presence. Hearing His voice. Feeling His touch. Cody Carnes wrote a beautiful song. The chorus goes like this: “I’m caught up in Your presence / I just want to sit here at Your feet / I’m caught up in this holy moment / I never want to leave / Oh, I’m not here for blessings / Jesus, You don’t owe me anything / More than anything that You can do / I just want You.”
Life happens, tough times come, weariness comes, broken hearts come, and sadness comes. But by staying in the presence of God, we can find joy, hope and comfort. Craving His presence. Staying as close to Him as we can. To hear His voice through His Word and through savoring His still small voice. We aren’t satisfied going it alone. We need. We want. We MUST be in His presence.
But, how can that be? All of our daily routines interrupt that closeness — at least on our part. Not on His. God’s promise that “I will never leave you nor forsake you” is found in multiple books of the Bible, in both the Old and New Testaments. With this promise, we can be assured that He is always with us no matter what we’re doing or where we’re going.
No matter where we are, He is. Our part is to open up our hearts to recognize His presence — to see Him and His wonders and grace all around us. Here’s one of those ways — the purer we are, the more we will see Him. “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will SEE God.” (Matthew 5:8) That “pure in heart’ has a lot to do with awareness of God’s presence.
A pure heart doesn’t mean we are perfect people. If our purest intention is to see God, we will. I’ve said it many times in my blogs that while I can’t see the Lord’s physical form, I do see evidence of Him all around me. So, in that case, we should always seek the many things that speak to His presence. The more we recognize even the smallest things as gifts from God, the more we start to realize how present He is in our lives.
The truth is – the more we purpose to sense His presence, the more we’ll know He is there. Bentley can’t see me but he listens for sounds I make, the smells of His food I’m about to give him. He finds me. And, when he does, I can’t help but let him cozy up to me. I scratch his tummy and all is well with him. Imagine how God must feel when He sees us craving His presence. If we are hungry enough for God, we will find a way into His presence. He’s already there with open arms. Let run to that warm embrace. He might even scratch our tummies!