May 6 – Marvelous R & R

“And He said, “My presence shall go with you, and I will give you rest.’”  Exodus 33:14 (NIV)

Does it make a difference for us, in how we live, to know that God is with us through difficult hours? I believe it certainly does, just as it did in the time of Moses when God gave him this promise. God had just reviewed His instructions to Moses, telling him to lead the people of Israel from Sinai to the Promised Land. Typical of Moses, he was again in a self-made quandary. Even though God had led the new nation of Israel out of Egypt with marvelous manifestations of His loving care and provision, and even though God had relented and provided whatever Moses and the people complained for, Moses was frequently disturbed by challenges God put in their path. In spite of God’s promise “I will send an angel before you, and I will drive out the Canaanites…”  Moses asked who was going with him. The Lord assured him that He Himself would go with him. Then He added that He would give them rest by bringing them to the land after their wanderings. We, too, can have confidence when we remember that God is with us. It’s a rest we can experience when we trust Him.

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December 31 – Watchnight

“Arise, cry out in the night, at the beginning of the night watches! Pour out your heart like water before the presence of the Lord!”  Lamentations 2:19 (ESV)

For the final visit on this blog for this year, we are sharing some words and thoughts from “365 Days with C.H. Spurgeon.” Slightly modified for our time this is from Spurgeon’s watchnight sermon on New Year’s Eve 1855. 

“Dear friends, may grace be given unto you, that ye may be able to pour out your hearts this night! Remember, my hearers, it may seem a light thing for us to assemble tonight at such an hour, but listen for one moment to the ticking of that clock!  It is the beating of the pulse of eternity. We hear the ticking of that clock! Each time the clock ticks, death’s footsteps are falling on the ground close behind us. We will soon enter another year. This year will be gone in a few moments. 1855 (2020) is almost gone; where will the next year be spent, my friends? One has been spent on earth; where will we spend the next? But do we know how to estimate our time, my hearers? Do we know how to measure our days? Do we know that every hour we are nearing the tomb? That every hour we are nearing judgment? We do not live stationary lives, but we are always going on, on, on, towards the grave. Do you know where the stream of life is hastening some of you? We who have harkened to the call of God know where we are to be. What shall the end of those be who obey not the gospel of God? We will not have so many years to live as we had last year!”

Spurgeon must have the last word: “Now, my friends, in the highest and best sense, I wish you all a happy New Year.”

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December 21 –– Light Makes a Difference

“Blessed are the people who know the festal shout, who walk, O Lord, in the light of your face,” Psalm 89:15 (ESV)

The subject of light is frequently in our discussions this time of the year. There is great light in the presence of the Lord. We think of the light which shone for the shepherds near Bethlehem that night that Jesus was born.  The Bible clearly shows us that rejection of God and His will results in darkness.  Darkness in this world is caused by denial of God's will and by sin. But with God there is great light which overcomes the darkness. The Gospel of John declares that in Jesus, was the light that was the life He brought to expose the darkness, (John 1:4-5.) That is what the lights of Christmas should remind us of.  When Jesus came to earth there were lights to demonstrate His purpose in coming. His presence in our lives does make such a big difference – like the difference between night and day. Our verse reminds us to walk in the light of His presence and promises a real blessing if we do.  Remember we have our festal shout out at Christmas. It was when Jesus came to be our Savior and His promise is to be with us daily. 

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December 5 – To Hope is To Wait

“Why are you in despair, O my soul? And why have you become disturbed within me? Hope in God, for I shall again praise Him For the help of His presence.”  - Psalm 42:5  (NASB)

There is a promise here that is ours if we are willing to wait, to hope in God.  Depression is so very common among all people and it is nothing new.  The author of this psalm writes as if for all who will sing the song.  Being in despair is to be sunk down or depressed.  How do we react when we find our soul sunk down?  There is a mental illness some of us suffer with which is called depression but there is also these momentary times of depression due to profound sadness or disruption of our lives.  Death, loss of job or home, divorce, failure to succeed and many other circumstances which cause us to be in despair in a common way.  We learn this promise here that if we respond to such times by hoping in the only one who is unchangeable, our God; if we are willing to wait for his solution to work out, we are promised a return to praising Him again. He will come and His presence will bring help and the wisdom and guidance we need. God never forsakes His own. 

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June 18 – Leading the Way

“For Christ did not enter a holy place made with hands, a mere copy of the true one, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us;” Hebrews 9:24 (NASB)

What Jesus Christ did for us in dying on the cross was of real spiritual significance.  The record in the Bible is very clear.  It says that when Jesus actually died while nailed to the cross, the curtain in the temple in Jerusalem split from top to bottom. It was a manifestation that the way into the presence of God had been opened for all who choose to believe and enter.  But Jerusalem's temple and Holy of Hollies was not the physical location that Jesus entered into God's presence. What he did was even more significant than that.  When his ministry on earth was finished, He returned into the actual presence of God the Father in heaven.  He was leading the way where we too can be in Him.  That is where Jesus is now and He is there in God's presence appearing for our sake.  What a great promise that we have Jesus, our Lord and Savior speaking on our behalf and praying to His Father God for our needs.  Today, trust this promise and believe in the good work Jesus does for us every day.

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March 12 – Acknowledge His Presence

“Blessed are those who have learned to acclaim you, who walk in the light of your presence, Lord.”   Psalm 89:15 (NIV)

In this verse there is a promise of real spiritual blessing from God and this promise is for us if we fulfill two requirements.  In the first place, we can expect great blessing from God when we learn to acclaim Him.  To acclaim our God is to recognize who He is, to acknowledge Him as our Lord God, and to praise Him in our thinking and also by words that we uses.  We learn to acclaim the Lord as we realize how great and how loving He is and as we lift up words of praise to Him from our hearts.  The second promise of blessing comes true in our lives as we realize how near God is to us and how closely involved He is in our lives.  God is near enough to light our path with His very presence.  This affects how we live and makes His blessings real to each day.  Let's not forget that He is near to us as we trust in Him today.

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September 29 – No Hiding Places

““Can a man hide himself in hiding places So I do not see him?” declares the Lord. “Do I not fill the heavens and the earth?” declares the Lord.”  Jeremiah 23:24 (NASB)

We often speak of the fact that God is omnipresent which means that God is everywhere present.  But we think too often as if what we do is or can be hidden.  “Living off the grid” is one such concept of being unnoticed or unseen in our daily lives.  But the words of today's verse tells us differently.  And, it tells us of our God, who is everywhere present in a different way.  Because we think of God as being in heaven and sometimes we picture him sitting on a throne “up there”.  Our verse tells us that God fills both the heavens and the earth with His presence.  There is no possible way that we can hide from the presence of God.  There is no way to live off the grid and disconnect from His presence.  It is impressive to think of our Lord God filling all of heaven and earth – but to actually comprehend this is beyond our ability.  We accept it by faith and believe it because it is a promise God has made.

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September 24 – Experience Nearness

“But for me it is good to be near God; I have made the Lord God my refuge, that I may tell of all your works.” Psalm 73:28 (ESV)

The people of Israel who lived during the days of the Old Testament record knew that in the tabernacle and then later in the temple in Jerusalem there was an inner room called the Holy of Hollies.  It was in this room where the presence of God was manifested.  Sometimes people would go to the temple thinking that this brought them close to God.  We see this thought in some of the Psalms.  We believe, though, that our verse today is about a spiritual closeness to God.  The psalmist had experienced the joy of knowing that God was near him even without his going to the temple.  This is true for each of us too.  Although it is possible for us to receive a blessing from attending church, we know that we can experience the nearness of God no matter where we are.  Everyday of the week and anytime of the day we can sense the closeness of His presence.  And, we can share that with others.   

What was the Holy of Hollies?

Significance of the Holy of Hollies for Christians.

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July 12 – Relax and Rest

“The Lord replied, “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.”” Exodus 33:14 (NIV)

This is such a wonderful promise given by God to Moses, and to us also.  We can be assured that He is with us.  It is a promise we need to remember just as Moses needed to remember it.  It was given for a special reason and we see that in the last words of the verse where God said, “and I will give your rest.”   Moses had led the Israelites out of Egypt and they were at Sinai.  God wanted Moses to lead them them on to the promised land.  They were a difficult people and the assignment seemed too big to Moses.  That is when God gave him this promise.  The promise was the for the presence of God and that gave Moses reason to relax, to rest.  We too can know that God will be with us because of His many promises to do so and we too can find rest, even in the middle of stressful circumstances and difficult situations that seem too big.  When we face great challenges in life, let's remember our God is with us and let's relax, trusting in His presence.  He will  care for us as He promised in our verse and in the middle of the battle we can rest.  

March 18 – Waiting in Silence

“For God alone my soul waits in silence; from him comes my salvation.” Psalm 62:1 (ESV)

We learn from today's verse how the psalmist David described his experience of trusting in God. The Bible tells us that when God created human beings He created us in His image. We understand that this includes much more than the creation of our human form. The image of God includes the way we are made inside – our feelings, emotions, our minds and our spiritual make up. So we understand that God made our souls in such a way that we can be spiritually satisfied only in knowing Him.  Our verse also reminds us that only in fellowship with God will our souls be able to wait and rest even  in the middle of the outward conflict that goes on around us.  Our souls require the experience of the presence of God before we are truly satisfied.  How good then to know that He is present with us. Complete spiritual satisfaction is possible to us as it was for David.  Even today no matter what is happening around us, we can wait for God alone. 

February 16 – His Presence with Us

“And he said, “My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.” And he said to him, “If your presence will not go with me, do not bring us up from here.” Exodus 33:14-15 (ESV)

It is in Exodus chapter 33 that we find one a very striking conversations between Moses and the Lord recorded.  Today we have selected part of that conversation. The Lord God brought His people out of Egypt but they had not yet gotten to the Promised Land. They were still in the wilderness at Mount Sinai. God wanted them now to continue the journey and He promised to go with them. We've selected this verse to remind ourselves how important it is that the Lord is involved in what we're doing these days. God has promised to be with us as we live by faith from day to day. He wants to show us the way as He promised Moses that His presence would be with them. God has also promised us the same thing – He is with us wherever we go.

January 19 – Nearness Through Faith

“Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.” James 4:8a (NASB)

Now we know that this verse doesn't say anything about where God is located. We know that He is everywhere – or as some say, omnipresent. He is in heaven but He is also here where we are. So when we read this invitation for us to come near to God we know that it speaks about our attitude toward God and about a consciousness of our need of His involvement in our lives. So we need to accept what the Bible tells us about God's presence with us. Then, His presence will be real to us. Drawing near to God is a matter of faith and so is our experience of His nearness. The promise this verse gives to us and the promise we can know and experience is that as we draw near through believing God, we will discover that believing provides an experience of closeness with God. 

December 19 – Light Makes a Difference

“Blessed are those who have learned to acclaim you, who walk in the light of your presence, Lord.” Psalm 89:15 (NIV)

There is great light in the presence of the Lord. We think of the light which shone for the shepherds near Bethlehem that night that Jesus was born.  The Bible clearly shows us that there is darkness in this world caused by rejection of God's will and by sin. But with God there is great light which overcomes the darkness. That is what the lights of Christmas should remind us of.  When Jesus came to earth there were lights to demonstrate His purpose in coming. His presence in our lives does make such a big difference – like the difference between night and day. Our verse reminds us to walk in the light of His presence and promises a real blessing if we do.  Remember that at Christmas, Jesus came to be our Savior and His promise is to be with us daily. 

August 27 – Devotion to Seeking

“Now devote your heart and soul to seeking the Lord your God.” 1 Chronicles 22:19a  (NIV)

These words were spoken by King David at the end of his life. He was concerned that the people would continue in the right path following God after his death. A broader context lets us know he was especially concerned that the plans to build the temple in Jerusalem would proceed. We can know that these words are for us today too, and they apply to our daily life. What can be more important to us than to experience the presence of God and His involvement in our lives? Nothing, is more important. Our greatest desire is to seek God presence every day, not just when we are in need. Let's begin and continue to train our hearts to long the  sense His presence and if our soul is seeking God we'll experience real blessings each day – that is His promise. 

February 6

“Surely you have granted him unending blessings and made him glad with the joy of your presence.” Psalm 21:6 (NIV)

Does it make any difference to us when we are reminded that God is present with us each day? Our verse lets us see what the psalmist David thought about this question – this is his testimony of praise to God. The presence of the Lord gave him much joy. He called it the “joy of your presence.” Can’t we see the same thing? When we acknowledge that the Lord is with us, no matter what else is happening, doesn’t this realization give us joy? We can be glad for this truth and consider it one of the eternal blessings of being a child of God. 

August 26

“I keep my eyes always on the Lord. With him at my right hand, I will not be shaken.” Psalm 16:8

We have many promises about the nearness of God to those who believe in His word. Just as David could say that the Lord was near to him – at his right hand, so we can have the same assurance. The Lord is everywhere so He is always near to us. But this is especially meaningful when we become aware of His nearness and live in the consciousness of that.  That is what David had done. He said he had kept his eyes always on the Lord. That didn’t change where God was. It changed David’s experience of His presence. Therefore his faith became unshakeable. We can experience that.

June 17

“Because you are my help, I sing in the shadow of your wings. I cling to you; your right hand upholds me.” Psalm 63:7-8 (NIV)

The nearness of God does not depend on our earthly circumstances. We find some of the most intimate expressions of the joy of knowing God’s presence in songs written by David in the most unpleasant situations. These verses today were written when he was out in the desert hiding from those who were trying to kill him. Spiritual blessings are not dependent on physical circumstances. Out there in the desert by himself, David sensed that He was not alone. God was with him sustaining him. So whatever your situation, be sure to lean upon the Lord because He is near, and by faith stay close to Him.

June 7

“Blessed are those who have learned to acclaim you, who walk in the light of your presence, Lord.”  Psalm 89:15 (NIV)

We notice that a special blessing is promised to those who have learned a lesson which God is anxious to teach us. And what is the lesson we need to learn? We need to learn to acclaim God, to praise Him, to give Him the honor which He deserves. We are so apt to give ourselves the credit for things we do. When we do that we lose the blessing that God has promised. He is the One who is working in our lives. He gives us wisdom. He gives us abilities. He helps us live in the way that pleases Him. He even helps us to acclaim Him. Let us keep this promise in mind and look to God to help us give Him the honor He deserves.

February 15

“Blessed are those who have learned to acclaim you; who walk in the light of your presence, O Lord.” Psalm 89:15 (NIV)

Are you looking for a blessing from God in your life? There are quite a few scriptures that give promise of His blessing. Let’s think especially of this verse. There is a blessing for those who walk in the light of His presence. God has promised to be near to His own. He wants us to be conscious of His presence and to live that way. This means that we won’t be hiding anything from Him. We will be doing only those things we can share with Him. We’ll be thinking only those thoughts that we know He will approve. That’s what it means to walk in the light of His presence. Is it any wonder that God promises a blessing to those who live this way?