The Presense of God

I've been reading The Practice of the Presense of God by Brother Lawrence, a little here and there, just before bed, and at times on the bus. There is a lot of good advice about prayer and communion with the Lord in these few 62 pages. A lot of them strike a chord with me but here are a couple of quotes just this morning I have enjoyed.

"It is not necessary for being with God to be always at church. We may make an oratory of our heart wherein to retire from time to time to converse with Him in meekness, humility, and love."

I think of Micah 6:8 when I read this. And I think how much more pleasant our devotion at church would be if we pressed on being with God while church is out of session.



A little later on the same page it says:

"We have but little time to live; you are near sixty-four and I am almost eighty. Let us live and die with God. Sufferings will be sweet and pleasant to us while we are with Him; and the greatest pleasures will be, without Him, a cruel punishment to us. May He be blessed for all. Amen."

With this I think of 2 Corinthians 12:10 where Paul writes that he delights in weakness, insults, and persecutions. And from a study recently in Ecclesiastes I learned that the richest of experiences without God are meaningless, but going through daily toil with God is a great gift. Our flesh would have us believe just the opposite. So let us remember that our Lord is ever present, and his joy in us and our joy in him will abound.

I Cannot

The overriding advice about achievement in our society is: "If you tell yourself you can do it, then you can do it. Just say 'I Can'."

If we contrast that with what the Bible says we will find there is an antithesis to this worldly advice. The Biblical advice I see is, "Say I Cannot and God will do it for you."

Consider the following 4 passages.

Genesis 41:15-16.

Pharaoh said to Joseph, "I had a dream, and no one can interpret it. But I have heard it said of you that when you hear a dream you can interpret it."
"I cannot do it," Joseph replied to Pharaoh, "but God will give Pharaoh the answer he desires."

As you can read in the whole account of this, Joseph was able to interpet the dream. But he says, "I cannot" and credits God for the ability.

Daniel 2:26-28a

The king asked Daniel (also called Belteshazzar), "Are you able to tell me what I saw in my dream and interpret it?"
Daniel replied, "No wise man, enchanter, magician or diviner can explain to the king the mystery he has asked about, but there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries. He has shown King Nebuchadnezzar what will happen in days to come.

Again, although Daniel does not explicitly say, "I cannot", he implies that he cannot when he says no one can explain the mystery but there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries.

Romans 7:21-25

So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God's law; but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!

Paul admits he cannot stop sinning, and I interpret this as, by his own strength; because he says, "Who will rescue me...Thanks be to God!" So he does have the ability to stop sinning, but it is by knowing Christ and by knowing his grace. When I say "know" I mean intimate knowledge rather than just mental knowledge.

Finally one more passage. And this helps balance the idea that we can just get what we want. We should be content with being in God's hands.

2 Corinthians 12:7-10.

To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

He says he delights in weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and difficulties. Because it keeps him from becoming conceited, and to rely on Christ's grace and his power.

Let us all say "I cannot" and then rely on Christ and his power for all things and all abilities.