Living in God’s Presence

Exodus 33:15-16  “And he said unto him, If thy presence go not with me, carry us not up hence. For wherein shall it be known here that I and thy people have found grace in thy sight? is it not in that thou goest with us? so shall we be separated, I and thy people, from all the people that are upon the face of the earth.” 

There must be a determination that you will have God in your life.

In this verse, Moses said, “Lord, I’m not going without You. If You don’t go, I’m not going.” And, you know, I think many of us would have settled for what God said to Moses. Many of us would say, “Lord, You promised me eternal life. I’ve got eternal life. You promised me Heaven. I’ve got Heaven. You promised me that You would see me through. You’re going to see me through. Thank You for the angel, Lord. Thank You for Heaven, Lord. Thank You for eternal security, Lord.” We might settle for that without the conscious presence of God, but I want to beg you not to do it.

Do you know what that’s like? That’s like a husband and wife who remain married but separate, and he provides for her. He says, “All right. I’ll pay your rent, I’ll buy your groceries, and I’ll cut the grass, but we’re not going to live together.” Do you want that kind of relationship with God? Do you want what God will give without having God Himself? Or are you saying, “I am not satisfied with separate maintenance? I want to know the Lord intimately.”

I pray that this determination is true for all of us so that we’ll say, “We want the conscious presence of God in our lives and in our church and we don’t want to go one step more without Him.”

By Adrian Rodgers