BE PRESENT WITH GOD

As I’m writing this, I am sitting by the fire watching the beautiful snow on the ground and reflecting upon the day. This Arizona boy is not used to snow so when we get snow here in Tennessee, I am very happy. Waking up to a covering of white brings joy to my soul.

Earlier today I took the kids on a fun snow adventure and they have been all smiles most of the day. But I’ll be honest, this is not the whole picture of how the day went. The next part of my morning wasn’t so wonderful.

I had a heart-to-heart conversation with one of my children where the direction of our talk didn’t’ go the way I was hoping. I will be honest that neither me not my child responded very well. I was so disappointed. My intent was to encourage and bring excitement. Sadly, that’s not how my child took it. Through further conversation and processing, things got better. Our talk even led to a wonderful breakthrough for my child, but it was not easy. Not to mention, what I had intended to be a fifteen-minute conversation ended up taking a few hours. All of this had taken more time than I had planned and wiped me out emotionally. After our talk, my child wanted to go outside and play in the snow. By this time, I definitely did not want to go back outside, and I had all the things I didn’t get done in my day on my mind.

It was in that moment that I heard the Lord say, “your child needs you to be present with them and they need to find adventure with you.” I immediately responded, got my warm clothes on and went into the cold. What came of that was joy for all of us.

As children we need to experience the adventure and the joy of being present with the Father. In this case it was an earthly father that needed to “get with it” for his kids. Our Father in Heaven is always present and always available. We are the ones who rush through life and miss the moments to “just be.” As children of God, we can get into a prescriptive relationship with God. We can go through the motions of reading the Bible, praying, and going to church. Sometimes we just need to be present and adventure with the Lord.

You will miss out on the gifts God has for you in your current season if you are not fully present. In scripture we find multiple examples where people were with God, but not truly present. If they had been present, they would have realized that He was talking to them and engaging with them. If they had been present, they would have known that He was right there, engaging in life with them. Yet they were completely unaware of God’s presence in their life.

“Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it.” Genesis 28:16

Jacob was overcome by his situation and did not recognize God. Mary stood outside by the tomb weeping, and as she wept she stooped down and looked into the tomb. 

“And she saw two angels in white sitting, one at the head and the other at the feet, where the body ofJesus had lain.  Then they said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “Because they have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid Him.” Now when she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, and did not know that it was Jesus.” John 20:11-14

Mary was submerged in grief and did not recognize Jesus. Life as they hoped it would be was interrupted. They had plans, goals, territory, and a perfect life mapped out. But life was derailed, and they found themselves discouraged and disillusioned. Both Jacob and Mary Magdalene missed God right in the middle of their interruption of life.

We are really not much different. God is with us, but we often are unaware of His presence. Disappointments, frustrations, and troubles when life does not go the way we thought it would, take center stage and the fact that God is present is completely missed.

How do we stay fully present so we can be aware of God’s presence right in the middle of interrupted life? I don’t want to wake up like Jacob, only to discover that God had been with me all along, but I missed HIS presence.

The LORD said to Moses, “Come up to me on the mountain and stay here and I will give you the tablets of stone with the law and commandments I have written for their instruction. Exodus 24:12

At first glance, it looks like God is simply calling Moses to climb the mountain in order to receive the laws and commandments God has for His people. There is something so much bigger going on here. The phrase “stay here” in this verse is better translated by the phrase, “be here” or “exist here.” This has led Bible scholars over the years to wrestle with what Moses is actually being asked to do. Is God calling him to climb the mountain to only get the tablets of stone, or is He asking something much more of Moses?

In reality, God is asking Moses to climb the mountain, not only to collect the tablets of stone, but to come up and be there — to exist there. He is asking Moses to come up and to be fully awake, fully alive and fully present with God in that moment. He is asking Moses to live fully aware of the fact that he is in the very presence of God, the Creator and sustainer of all, in the here and now.

God knows that we live our lives at a crazy pace, rushing from one place to another. So, here’s the deal. God is saying to Moses this: “Don’t miss it!” Don’t miss what is going on all around you. Don’t be so focused somewhere else that you miss the very moment that you are in. Be present, find joy in the adventure of “being” with God!

-Scott