Psalm 114:7-8 "Tremble, O earth, at the presence of the Lord, at the presence of the God of Jacob, who turned the rock into a pool, the hard rock into springs of water."
Lots of teachable points in this selection today. Question.... do we actually tremble at the presence of the Lord? We should. The very thought of Him should be able to cause us to shake in our boots. When we lose this sense of awe, maybe we should stop watching so many cinema graphic depictions of the impossible and remember that God doesn't need computers, time-delay, camera angles, mirrors or high-tech production to turn solid into liquid. Someday He will pulverize the whole mess without an academy award to appreciate His creativity.
It shouldn't be the miraculous or supernatural or spiritual that is needed to get us to the point of trembling. Just His presence. Do you ever just recognize the presence of the Lord? It is actually inescapable. We almost have to avoid Him in order not to deal with His presence. Just try getting quiet and removing all the stimuli for a few minutes, sometimes it only takes seconds. I'm serious here. Just be silent enough that there are no distractions. Take all the audio, visual, sensory things away and draw into His presence. What a lovely place.
Please excuse me because as I describe it I am going there. Just into His presence. A place where I am safe, loved, in awe and absolutely overwhelmed with Him. Only Him. Just me and He. It is beautiful. Available all the time. It only takes a little mental effort to remove myself from everything else and recognize His manifestation in my spirit. At first, there are distractions and then interruptions. I keep focusing on Him. Who He is. How much He loves me. Why I love Him. His Truth. Within seconds I am back in His presence, enjoying the peace, basking in the grace He gives me.
There is a song from a musical that comes to mind that keeps returning to my memory lately though it was more than 15 years ago that I first learned it. The song said..... "I just want to be where you are, daily in your presence'. Wow. Works for me. Being in His presence is definitely where I want to be. You see, there are two ways to tremble. You can tremble from awesome fear and respect, and I do... but also I tremble from sheer thrill and excitement. The more you experience the presence of God the more you will sense both kinds of exhilaration. I think for most of us we lack enough spiritual experiences and that is why we can't get there more often or often enough.
If you haven't read it... I really recommend "Practicing the Presence of God" by Brother Lawrence. He truly understood what it meant to have God be the priority of his life. Try to get there more often. That place where it is in His presence, with Him alone.
With His love and power, Pastor Fred
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