What's your favorite word in the Bible? Have you ever thought about it? You know, it's that one word that you hear, tucked inside a verse that you love, that makes your skin tingle when it's read aloud. Maybe that word is forgiveness, because that's also the one word that you struggle to deliver. Or maybe it's understanding, because you love how the Lord gives it to us in order to even remotely fathom just how good He really is. My word is presence. For me, this word brings weight to the Spirit of God who I know lives within me. This word reminds me that I am not alone; that He exists in this place with me. It removes the heaven and earth barrier in my mind and walks alongside me in fellowship.
The first time I see this word in the Bible is in Genesis 3:8 (also my favorite verse). Interesting to me, this is the very thing Adam and Eve hide from here. Sin had entered the heart when man chose to move aside from his Creator, and the burden of that sin terrified him when Presence moved toward him (because the Presence of God has more weight than our sin!).
I saw this word again over the past few days as I led a study in the book of Jonah. In Chapter One, we saw Jonah fleeing from the presence of the Lord mentioned three times (I think the Author wanted us to know that Jonah was desperately trying to run from something specific; something he could actually feel in his soul).
In Timothy Keller's book, The Prodigal God, he says that our place in the garden is where we were all created to live. It was the world we were built for, where there would be no parting from love, decay or disease. He goes on to say, "It was all these things because it was life before the face of God, in His presence".
Bottom line: we were meant to live in the presence of God, naked and without shame.
I want to live my day-to-day mindful of this. I want to walk alongside Presence unashamed; our fellowship unhindered by sin. And when I take another path and try to separate myself from Glory, I want to hear the weight of Presence moving towards me, just as He did with Adam and Eve.
Bethel Music sings, "I Love Your Presence", and I sing along with my hands held high, inviting all of Him to fill all of me with the weight of His glory. David says, In Your presence there is fullness of joy (Psalm 16:11), and my heart cries out, "Set me in Your presence forever, oh Lord, and I will be satisfied always", because there's really no other way for me to live, except in His Presence.
