The Joy of His Presence

One of the themes in last week’s sermon was having an awareness of God’s presence. I do not know a better book on the topic than The Practice of the Presence of God by Brother Lawrence. The book is actually letters written by him or his friend, Joseph de Beaufort, giving advice to young clergymen.

Here is an excerpt from the first letter:

“Brother Lawrence insisted that it is necessary to always be aware of God’s presence by talking with Him throughout each day. To think that you must abandon conversation with Him in order to deal with the world is erroneous. Instead, as we nourish our souls by seeing God in His exaltation, we will derive a great joy at being His.”

After work I usually go and hit the gym. Today was no different, at least at first. I usually start with a run to warm up and blast some Kanye and Linkin Park on my ipod. After I finished my run I began to think about the presence of God. I decided instead of listening to hard rock while I hit the weights I would switch to some Chris Tomlin. My “cool” side would bag on people working out to Tomlin. Truthfully, Chris Tomlin doesn’t really scream, “Finish that last rep foo!” but whatever.

Then the song Wonderful Maker came on, and I started listening to the lyrics and thought about God’s transcendence and immanence and how both attributes are beautifully displayed in the song:

You spread out the skies over empty space
 (transcendence)
Said "let there be light" 
(transcendence)
Into a dark and formless world Your light was born 

(transcendence/immanence)

You spread out Your arms over empty hearts
 (immanence)
Said "let there be light" 

(transcendence)
Into a dark and hopeless world Your Son
was born


 (transcendence/immanence)

You made the world and saw that it was good
 (transcendence)
You sent Your only son for You are good 


(immanence)

What a wonderful Maker 
(transcendence)
What a wonderful Savior 



(immanence)
How majestic Your whispers
 (transcendence/immanence)
And how humble Your love
 (immanence)
With a strength like no other 

(transcendence)
And the heart of a Father 

(immanence)
How majestic Your whispers 
(transcendence/immanence)
What a wonderful God

 (immanence)

No eye has fully seen, how beautiful the cross 

(transcendence/immanence)
And we have only heard 

(immanence)
The faintest whispers of how great You are (transcendence/immanence)

As I was meditating on this song I was truly in awe of who God was. This struck me because I was hitting the weights during this time and even began to pray between sets. The quote by Brother Lawrence came alive in an instant. Yes, God is with us in every part of the day. We only need to be aware of that fact in order to experience it.

Two things hit me like a punch in the stomach. First, it was a reminder of how Wonderful the Lord really is, and I have no claim on anything in this life but to simply honor Him. Second, I felt like I’ve been missing out all this time because I thought I had to “abandon conversation with Him in order to deal with the world.” Yes, that is “erroneous.” Through the whole time I was working out, I was enjoying the presence of God. I even finished my reps listening to Chris Tomlin.

Devotional – 021310

My church had another Reading Service. A Reading Service at our church is when we read together as a congregation a portion of Scripture prior to preaching through it. We’ve been going through the book of Isaiah, and last week we read through chapters 7-12.

Chapter 6 gets a lot of attention, and rightly so, because of Isaiah’s vision of God on the throne. Chapter 7, however, intrigues me more at a human level. What I mean is that it reveals more of the human condition in which fear of circumstances rules our hearts instead of trusting in the sovereignty of God.

In chapter 7, during the reign of Ahaz, the prophet Isaiah is attempting to present to his people the vision of God that has come to him in chapter 6. In 7:2 Aram and Ephraim are preparing for war against Israel and as a result, “the hearts of Ahaz and his people were shaken, as the trees of the forest are shaken by the wind” (NIV). Ahaz, in an attempt to find security goes to Assyria, Judah’s enemy, for aid. Isaiah tells Ahaz to trust in God and to look to God for help but Ahaz wants “a sign” (7:10). Then the famous passage of a child named “Immanuel” is given as the sign (7:14).

On the surface there seems nothing remarkable about the sign that God actually gives. Why would a future birth of a child comfort Ahaz? But then you look into the meaning of the name “Immanuel,” for “God is with us” and you see what John Oswalt called “double significance.” Oswalt goes on to say, “Its meaning is that God is with us and we need not fear what other human beings may do to us. The first significance is for Ahaz’s own day. He need not go to Assyria because God is with Judah.”

History tells us that Assyria eventually conquers the Northern kingdom of Israel years later. The opening they needed to accomplish this was given by Ahaz as a result of his refusal to trust God. Before we dismiss Ahaz as a failure and move on, I want to point out that as a Christian living under the New Covenant, we have the benefit of the Holy Spirit, the finished work of Christ on the cross, His resurrection, the promise of His return, and the text of Scripture. Dispute all of these eternal blessings, I find myself pursuing worldliness in much the same way Ahaz did. I often wonder if personal security is more important to me than pursuing God and investing in His kingdom.

The story of Ahaz, and others like it, steer me back to pursuing a growing trust in the Lord. This only happens if I learn more about God’s character and His goodness towards us realizing that I don’t need a vision like Isaiah’s to do so but the text of Scripture, which He has provided.

Corndogs and Good Childhood Memories

Normally I try to avoid the cafeteria at school all together because the lack of food quality is downright depressing. I could ensure you that when Junior Jr. comes along he will not be eating school lunches. Today, however, the cafeteria was serving corndogs. No they weren’t all that appealing. The corndogs triggered a fond memory of my mom. Every time she took my younger sister and I shopping at the mall, she bought us corndogs as a reward for enduring hours of wondering aimlessly through department stores. My feet were so swollen I couldn’t get the shoes off of them when I got home.

Then I started to miss my mom while I was thinking about this. I don’t have many happy childhood memories so when I remember one I need to write about it. What mom use to do throughout elementary school was drop by during lunch and hook me up with McDonalds. All the other kids were jealous and I made quite a few friends by handing out fries, particularly handing them to the cute girls. What elementary school girl could resist fries from McDonalds during lunchtime? Yes, sharing is good.

Of course mom didn’t have the benefit of nutritional facts and the health conscience culture we live in today. She just saw how happy it made her son and that’s all that mattered to her. As a future parent, I often wonder if I could live in such a way where I focus my efforts, resources, and energy to the security, love, and affirmation of a child the way my mom did for me. On paper I would say ‘no,’ or more accurately, ‘NO!’

This made me start thinking of what my mom would be feeling if I had a child. Considering how happy she was when my psycho older sister had a child, it would probably be one of the greatest moments in her life for her golden-boy to have a son of his own. That thought alone makes me what to eat a corndog at the mall.

(An entire blog on the pros and cons of parenthood is coming. Stay tuned.)