“My presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest.” Ex. 33:14. The children of Israel just committed the most heinous of sins, “the golden calf” and Moses made atonement for them after 3,000 were slain and the LORD tells them to, “Depart!” Ex. 33:1 and He would send an angel (Isa. 63:9) to go before them and lead them because if He went in the midst of them He would consume them, v.3. They had sinned a grievous sin against God and He was mad Ex. 32:10 but Moses interceded for them and God repented (recalled, turned) v.14 from the evil He was going to do to Israel because of the covenant He had made with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Sometimes after we have really blown it we feel like Job in chapter 29 or David in Psalm 42, His rich, full, abiding presence and love is not there, but it is! The fellowship may not be the same, it may be damaged, but confession will remedy that, Amen? The relationship never changes, you will always be His child and He your Father. ‘Once saved, always saved!’ Heb. 13:8. However, in Moses’ day the Ruach ha Kodesh  came upon them and departed from them, Ps. 51:11. He did not indwell them permanently like He does believers today; Jn. 14:16; Eph. 4:30.

The LORD doesn’t withdraw His full blessing and presence from His children arbitrarily, it is due to forgetfulness, unbelief or sin on their part. Our sin creates an impassable gulf between us and God and the gloom of the night overtakes our souls, so we seek an intercessor, the Son, Ro. 8:34; the Spirit, Ro. 8:26; or a Saint, I Tim. 2:1. The people mourned (Heb. bawl, to cry out loudly) and laid aside their ornaments, their beautiful jewelry. In losing God they lost their glory, their treasure and their joy. Isn’t that true of us today, without God’s glory shining on us, there is no joy, no treasure, no happiness, nothing! So, they built a Tabernacle outside the camp where Moses and Joshua could meet God face to face, “and the LORD (Yehovah) talked with Moses.” v.9. Praise God, they had their intercessor! Do you have yours, Son, Spirit or Saint? Then the people saw the “Shekinah Glory” standing at the Tabernacle door and the LORD spoke with Moses face to face as a man speaks to his friend.

Then Moses pleads with God to make His will and way known to him and God says, “I know thee by name and thou hast also found grace in My sight.” v.12. Yeah but, (don’t you just love the yeah buts in the Bible) You have not told me who will go with me! Yet Joshua has been with him since he left Egypt, through the desert, through the Red Sea, fighting the Amalakites in Ex. 17, on the Mount in Ex. 24 & 32, in the Tabernacle Ex. 33:11; but he had not yet laid hands on him and imparted the Spirit to him, Num. 27:18. He needed a partner to go with him, to train and to take over for him, Moses is no spring chicken by this time. God has also called us His friends, and sons, and His people, so it is not for us to walk in darkness either. We need to know His way and will too, after all Ps. 25:14 says, “The secret of the LORD is with those that fear (reverence) Him, and He will show them His covenant.” Therefore none of God’s people should be satisfied to live in a state of confusion, misery and darkness.

Then comes one of the most beautiful promises in the Older Testament, one that should be written on the mantles of our hearts, “My presence shall go with thee and I will give thee rest.” The realization of God’s favor, God’s presence, will give rest to your soul, rest from your doubts, your struggles, rest from your quest! “If God be for us, WHO can be against us?” Rom. 8:31. In fact WHAT can separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord, shall tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, peril, the sword? NO! Wrote the apostle Paul in Rom. 8:37, “In all these things we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us.” There is nothing that can separate us from from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus, NOTHING!!! Read Rom. 8:28-39 over and over until it sinks in and you get it!!!! “My presence, My (Pan-im, My face, Me Myself) will go with you, and I will give you rest (nuah, settle you, establish you).” One vowel point difference from the word, Noah. Rest from anxieties about the way, rest from misgivings about the future; we may not know what the future holds but we sure know the One who holds the future, Amen? (Are you paying attention?) When you have a personal relationship with Yehovah and with His Son Yeshua and His Spirit the Ruach ha Kodesh indwells you then you know His truth, His love, His power, His promise, His presence and your soul realizes the peace that passes all understanding, Phil. 4:7. That manifested presence is the believer’s joy and glory, it’s what we live for, serve for, give for, long for, and die for.

If God’s Shekinah Glory does not go with them, if His abiding presence does not go forth with them, then they do not wish to go forward, not one foot! How about you? Can you serve, give, live, sacrifice, go, without the abiding presence of the Almighty? What good is a land flowing with milk and honey without God, it’s a mere desert! He bids us in Matt. 6:6 to enter into our closets, our pantries and when we have ‘shut the door’ to pray to our Father in secret who is already in there waiting for us. He tells us in Ps. 46:10, “To be still and know (yada) the LORD.” That same word appears in Gen. 4:1 when Adam (yadad) Eve and she conceived, this word speaks of intimacy, oneness, a closeness to close for words. That’s the kind of relationship God desires in your prayer life, intimate intercourse, conversation so close that words are not necessary, your thoughts are one with His thoughts (yada) because you ‘Practice the Presence of God.’ Joshua did not leave the Tabernacle Ex. 33:11, he wanted more, neither did Isaac in Gen. 22, he stayed on Mt. Moriah only Abraham came down v.19. Have you ever been visited in your closet, or at a prayer meeting or at your study and you had to ask Him to, ‘stay His hand?’ And you didn’t want to leave, hopefully you took Him with you and practiced the ‘Presence of God’ through out the day. You see it’s not ‘Brother Andrew’s secret, he didn’t invent it or find it, it’s God’s and He desires all of us to have it. “My presence, My face, My Shekinah, My Majesty, Me, Myself, and I will go with you, and I will give you rest, I will settle you, I will establish you, I will plant your feet on the Rock, just keep My face before you always.”

Nicolas Herman joined a Carmelite order in Paris France at the age of 24 and received the name, “Lawrence of the Resurrection” and we know him as, “Brother Lawrence.” A book was compiled by Joseph de Beaufort of his letters and conversations on the subject of the ‘Presence of God.’ It is a small book, worthy of your reading entitled, “The Practice of The Presence of God” by Brother Lawrence. A poem in the book says, “Lord of all pots and pans and things; Make me a saint by getting meals; And washing all the plates!” The key to the book is in the first letter as Brother Lawrence searched many books to find out how to go to God but came to the conclusion that in order to be holy he had to be wholly God’s all the time. So, he resolved to give his all, for His all, all the time. “I made this my business as much all the day long as at the appointed times of prayer; for at all times, every hour, every minute, even in the height of business, I drove away from my mind everything that was capable of interrupting my thought of God.” Brother Lawrence may not be the author of “Practicing The Presence of God” but he sure is known for it, Ex. 33:14-15; Read his book, you’ll be really glad you made the effort.  “…Between The Lines…”

“Practicing The Presence of God” ‘Ex. 33:14-15’  10/12/12