And he said, My presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest (Ex. 33:14).
This is a promise that includes all promises--"My presence shall go with thee." Here we have no continuing city. We just get our roots down and begin to relax when marching orders come. A change in work; another city, another state, another country--marching, marching, forever marching. But here is the promise: The Lord Himself will keep us company. His presence means His fellowship, His favor, His care, His mercy, every day. If God's presence is with us, everything in heaven and earth is ours. He who in His giving "spared not his own Son,...how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?" (Rom. 8:32).
We should learn to practice the presence of God. Edwin Booth once gave this crisp advice to a group of young actors: "A king sits in every audience. Play to the king." The King of kings stands in the midst of all common things of life, and we should play to Him.
The wilderness journey was too much for Israel without God. With God nothing was too much for them. They could go forward in faith and perfect security and peace because the presence of God was with them, and we can have the same experience today.
An English cleric once said to a bright little girl in his church, "If you will tell me where God is, I will give you an orange."
"If you will tell me where He is not," promptly replied the child, "I will give you two oranges."
God's presence in the pillar of cloud and the pillar of fire led His people of old into the Promised Land, and He will lead us now.
MEDITATION PRAYER: "Thou compassest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways" (Ps. 139:3).
This is a promise that includes all promises--"My presence shall go with thee." Here we have no continuing city. We just get our roots down and begin to relax when marching orders come. A change in work; another city, another state, another country--marching, marching, forever marching. But here is the promise: The Lord Himself will keep us company. His presence means His fellowship, His favor, His care, His mercy, every day. If God's presence is with us, everything in heaven and earth is ours. He who in His giving "spared not his own Son,...how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?" (Rom. 8:32).
We should learn to practice the presence of God. Edwin Booth once gave this crisp advice to a group of young actors: "A king sits in every audience. Play to the king." The King of kings stands in the midst of all common things of life, and we should play to Him.
The wilderness journey was too much for Israel without God. With God nothing was too much for them. They could go forward in faith and perfect security and peace because the presence of God was with them, and we can have the same experience today.
An English cleric once said to a bright little girl in his church, "If you will tell me where God is, I will give you an orange."
"If you will tell me where He is not," promptly replied the child, "I will give you two oranges."
God's presence in the pillar of cloud and the pillar of fire led His people of old into the Promised Land, and He will lead us now.
MEDITATION PRAYER: "Thou compassest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways" (Ps. 139:3).
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