Our three-year-old son, Jonathan, has a practice of calling for me if he wakes up in the middle of the night. Yes, even in the wee hours of the morning, he’ll yell, “Daddy! Daddy!” repeatedly at the top of his lungs until I come to his side. The funny thing is that once I get to his room, he’s completely fine. I don’t have to say or do anything except show up. Once I’m there, he’ll close his eyes and go right back to sleep.
I certainly don’t have any magical powers, but there’s something about our son just knowing I’m in the room that makes everything okay for him. On that note, I can’t help but think how that resembles our relationship with God. A lot of times, we just need to know He’s there. When we know He’s with us, everything seems okay.
Consider this prayer recorded in Psalm 67: “GOD be merciful to us and bless us, and cause His face to shine upon us” (v.1, NKJV). Why would the psalmist ask God to “cause His face to shine upon us”? To me, God’s face designates His presence. I think the psalmist was feeling kind of like my son; He just wanted the presence of God.
Oh, how wonderful it is to experience the presence of God! Too often, we chase the things of this world when all we really need is Him! “Delight yourself also in the LORD and He will give you the desires of your heart” (Psalm 37:4).
So many of our “needs” are met by simply being with the Lord. Indeed, “the mountains melt like wax at the presence of the LORD, at the presence of the Lord of the whole earth” (Psalm 97:5).
If you feel down and depressed, consider Psalm 16:11: “In Your presence is fullness of joy; at Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.”
If you’re facing temptation, consider Psalm 68:2: “As smoke is driven away, so drive them away; As wax melts before the fire, so let the wicked perish at the presence of God.”
If you’re tired and worn out from going down the wrong path, consider Acts 3:19-20: “Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord.”
If you need peace, know that Jesus is the Prince of Peace. You don’t need your circumstances to change in order to experience peace; you just need His presence! You just need to know He is with you, and that changes everything.
There’s something about being in the presence of God that transforms your attitude, demeanor, and perspective. Your whole outlook on life changes after you’ve been with God. You’re able to face things you couldn’t face before. You’re able to do things you didn’t really want to do before. You’re able to love and forgive when you couldn’t do so before. The presence of the Lord changes everything.
How do we experience the presence of God? We should do the same thing my son does … we need to call on our Father! When we reach out to Him, He makes His presence known to us. James tells us, “Draw near to God and He will draw near to you” (James 4:8a).
We can draw near to God in several ways including praying, reading the Bible, meditating on scriptures, attending church services, listening to sermons, or singing songs of praise and worship to Him. Let’s call out to our Father today and ask Him to cause His face to shine on us!
Reflections 