thoughts on the presence....

presence of God that is. :)

Exodus has been mulling around in my mind and in my spirit after I finished teaching. I've been SO blessed to study this book and really, really loved the journey God brought me through with it. One thing I've been really challenged by is God's presence and I wanted to share a bit about it here...if I get too "teachy" or "preachy" please forgive me....but then again it is my blog, and my space to share my thoughts.

Anyways, the instructions for the tabernacle are given in the book of Exodus. I have always considered this kind of the "boring" part of this book, or the part that you could probably just not include, maybe mention that it was built and move on with life.

But, as I went through and processed this part of Exodus, I made the connection to Hebrews 8:5 in that what God did in the wilderness was a shadow of what was to come, namely through Jesus. The tabernacle was a shadow. It pointed to a much more glorious reality. And the whole end goal of the tabernacle was that God's presence would dwell with his people. He made a way that their sins could be atoned for and a holy God could dwell in their midst. The end goal was relationship and God's presence.
Well, hello....that's exactly the purpose of Jesus! The end goal of his death and resurrection was that God could dwell in relationship with his people. He provided a way that their sins could be atoned for and a holy God could dwell and draw near to a sinful people (ahem....you and me). The end goal is relationship and God's presence with man.

And this is the epic conclusion of all of history that is pointed to in the book of Revelation 21:3 "...Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man..."

God wants to be present in our lives.

After the sinning of the people by worshiping the golden calf, Moses interceded for the people. And God commanded them (Exodus 33:1-3) to leave Sinai and head towards the promised land. He says that he will still fulfill his promise for the people and bring them into the land but his presence will not go with them....

I asked myself this question: "If God promised to fulfill every promise in my life and yet he was not present in it, would I be content with that?"...namely, do I just want the benefits of God, the working of his power and great plans for my life, or do I really truly desire the presence of God in my life...Him, for who he is, no strings attached. The passage after this is Moses' well known interaction with God asking that his presence go with them and if it doesn't, it's not even worth it for them to go. Then he asks to see the glory of God.

Moses and Exodus has taught me a lot of God's intentionality with his people. God has pursued me. He has saved me. He has given me his word and his truth. He has set me free. But it also begs a response on my part....the design of my life has always been God's presence, not just "all things working out in a really good way."

So...let me leave you with that question:
Are you asking God only for the fulfillment of his promises or do you truly recognize and seek the presence of God in your every day life? What keeps you from the presence of God?