Living in His Presence

 

 

And He said, "My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest."

15 Then he said to Him, "If Your Presence does not go with us, do not bring us up from here. 16 For how then will it be known that Your people and I have found grace in Your sight, except You go with us? So we shall be separate, Your people and I, from all the people who are upon the face of the earth." Exodus 33:14-16

 

Moses understood something that could change the way we view our world.  He recognized that the people that we hang with- and what they do- have a profound impact on our ability to enjoy the Lord's presence.  We cannot serve man or other gods and remain in His presence.  Because of the sin that the Israelites had committed while Moses was on the mountain, God was not going to travel with Moses any more.  His company was alienating him from the presence of God. 

Moses recognized that if any way he went, precluded the participation of the Holy Spirit, that he did not want a part of it.  He wanted to follow the cloud.  He wanted to walk where the pillar led.  He did not want what God did not want.  So many times we are asking the Lord to finish something we authored.  But God is the author and finisher.  He will only complete or finish that which derives from Him.  If we are headed in a direction that God is not, we must change our course and align our path with His.

From this we  see that we cannot afford to spend time with people who deplete us spiritually.  It is OK to sit and eat with sinners if you are the person of impact.  But if you find yourself sacrificing your standards, the time has come to separate!  God is holy.  He must be reverenced and adored.  Our friends are not worth costing us the presence of God.

The second thing that I take away from this, is that having enjoyed time in the Lord's presence, Moses was ruined.  He could not go back to being without Him.  In "The God Chaser's" Tommy Tenney explains this concept as being ruined by God.  Once we have tasted of His presence, His goodness, His anointing, we are ruined for anything else.  After we have walked with Him how could we ever be satisfied with less?

Dear Lord, I  desire to be in Your presence.  Help me to avoid doing anything that You cannot be a part of- anything that would  separate me from Your Spirit.  In Jesus' Name.  Amen.