I have found the path into God’s Presence. I return again and again, like a deer cutting through brush to water. Each time the path becomes a little easier, and now I can follow it even in the dark. I have this path in my heart, and I am blessed.
We talk about God’s Presence as a place: we “enter” worship and we “come before” God. Yet the Presence is not a place like a building is a place--it's more real, more permanent than a building. All other beautiful places and spaces of this life are quickly-fading shadows of the Place of God’s Presence.
Last Thursday we were singing about the new Jerusalem John saw (Revelation 21), and God said He would dwell with us. And in the midst of the song and meditation, my heart started moving toward Home--my eternal home, the far country, the motherland, Jerusalem above, where I am truly a citizen, beloved and fully known. Jesus says the first things will pass away, and He makes all things new. The building we use for worship will pass away, but our Place worshiping God in His Presence will endure into the age to come. Every time we enter His Presence, every moment we spend in His shadow, is a glimpse and glimmer of that day, when our Place of prayer in this life will seamlessly join the age of unveiled unbroken loving union.
Mind you, I am not wishing for death in any morbid way, and I am not twiddling my thumbs waiting for Jesus to return. The Spirit and the Bride say, "Come, Lord Jesus," but every moment in the Presence catapults us toward the consummation. In prayer and worship (I use these interchangeably) I touch eternity. Really.
I could not resist this tangent: Not only is my Place of prayer a real place, but the relationships formed through prayer are eternal. My fellow pilgrims who go with me into the Presence, the ones who walk beside me as we follow Jesus--we will go together into the Presence in the new Jerusalem. The love we have now will be multiplied, cleansed of selfishness and shame, and full of glory in the age to come. When we’re in the Presence together now, I already feel little pangs of heavenly love for the dark but lovely children of the new Jerusalem, the gems hidden in earthen vessels, the majestic ones in the earth.
I especially feel tenderness toward my gracious brothers, Stephen Suing and Jordan Bentley, who have helped me beat down the path into the Presence every Thursday for years. I love to imagine the age to come with them. Since we will worship for all eternity, I think eventually it will be our turn to lead worship there as we have here on earth. Of course, the instruments and music will be infinitely superior, and I won’t miss a note, but I think we will still have some of the same style and passion we have now. All the glory we experience in this life is a shadow of the age to come, so I think we will still have the same joy of music, friendship, and encountering our Magnificent Obsession… only it will be even more joyful, delightful, and glorious than we ever imagined!
I love mulling over these thoughts, letting them blow my mind until I can only laugh. The Presence of God is my favorite Place.
P.S. If you want to know how to get the path to Presence in your heart, I can tell you! I found it slowly through practice and grace, not by accident and not because I'm more special than you. I'm not.
WonderFULL
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