Feb. 24 - God's Presence

(submitted by Barb Staley)

God said, “My presence will go with you. I’ll see the journey to the end.”

The Message Exodus 33:14

Moses has just had a reality check. He had led the people into a desert place. Moses was getting used to the place where they were camped. Moses spent time with God and was making the best of an unsettling situation. Now, God tells Moses to pack up the tent and move again.

Moses says to God “Look, you tell me, ‘Lead this people,’ but you do not let me know whom you’re going to send with me. You tell me, ‘I know you well and you are special to me.’ If I am so special to you, let me in on your plans.” The Message Exodus 33:12-13

God certainly is not predictable. God is always changing my plans. It seems that when I get too comfortable, God moves me to a new adventure. Exodus tells us that God talked face to face with Moses. Moses lived in prayer even though he called it conversation with God. In difficulties, Moses had no trouble talking to God. In difficult times, we have no trouble talking to God. Life teaches us to pray.

Our prayers may be spoken or silent. They come from our minds and hearts. We need help and we seek relief. God is open to prayers of desperation, but God wants us to pray in all things. The only way we learn to “pray in all things” is just do it. This calls for a new mindset and opening our senses to God. If we only see God in very limited places such as worship or music, we put ourselves and God in a very comfortable box. If we have our definitions of what is sacred and holy, we miss the sacred and holy in the secular.

This is my Father’s world and all that is in it. God wants us to be conscious of God everywhere. In the workplace, in the sports arena, in the grocery shopping and especially in the mundane. If we transform our thinking to include the secular as holy space, we are in the presence of God at all times.

The presence of God is everywhere but you miss God if you do not take time to be conscious of the sacred in the secular. An awareness of sacred spaces is the beginning of deep prayer and intimacy with God. Prayer is not just given to you; you have to find time for prayer.

God desires to go with us just as God went with Moses. When we are empty there is no sacred in the secular, and life becomes very challenging. But, God wants to fill us to overflowing. Prayer is essential for our bodies, our minds, and our souls. Prayer is essential for relationship with God.

As we journey through Lent, can we make our moments sacred? God makes the living sweeter when God journeys with us. Can we think of ourselves as being a sweet aroma in the nostrils of God? Can we see the world thought the eyes of God? Can we listen to the world as God listens? This is prayer.

Be prepared for God to interact with you in prayer. You will see poverty; hear the cry of hurting people, and struggle with your understanding of the economically depressed and the uneducated. You will be able to feel the helplessness of the powerless, and God will give you the wisdom of the holy