Drawing Near: A Spirituality of Presence

I was sitting in my office one morning many years ago, attending to the tasks of the day, not really thinking about God at all, when He suddenly invaded my conscious mind:  "Who are your favorite characters in Scripture?" He asked.  I knew it was Him.  He commanded my whole attention.  Without thinking about it at all, I blurted out, "Enoch, Deborah, Abraham."  

Now, here's the thing:  if anyone else had asked that same question, I would have had to dither and deliberate a long time, and even then, I'm not sure I would have been satisfied with my answer.  There's a lot to consider, after all. But somehow that day, the answer seemed to be pre-programed in my mind.  It was as if I knew without knowing that I knew.  

And immediately came the response:  Walk with Me; Sit with Me; Stand with Me.

It knocked my socks off!  It was a holy moment; at my desk on an ordinary day, I wanted to worship the God whose presence filled the room.  Maybe I did; I don't recall.  I knew that I could not have made this up, even had I been thinking about it a long time.

The implications --- for Enoch and Deborah --- were immediately clear to me.  For Abraham, I wasn't so sure.  I had to think about that one.  Scripture says about Enoch: Enoch walked with God; then he was no more, for God took him away (Genesis 5).  That's all we know about Enoch, but it is enough.

Deborah, on the other hand has a history (Judges 4) but for now, the important passage is this one: Deborah [a prophetess] was leading Israel at this time.  She held court under the Palm of Deborah...and the Israelites came to her to have their disputes decided.  So Deborah sat under a tree and dispensed wisdom.  I tend to draw close to Deborah because from childhood, my favorite place has been either in or under a tree.  I grew up surrounded by trees and still today, gravitate to their shade and wisdom.

Now, I was familiar with Abraham, but wasn't sure at that moment how the phrase "Stand with Me" would apply to that story.  That night, I started re-reading the story of Abraham (Gen. 12-25).  When I got to Chapter 18, the words  Abraham remained standing before the Lord (v. 22) seemed to leap off the page.  This phrase introduces Abraham's plea before God to spare Sodom if ten good men could be found there.

Walk with Me; Sit with Me; Stand with Me.  In one instant, The Lord Himself had drawn near to me and given me a spirituality of Presence -- of drawing near to Him.

God's Delight

 My plants give me so much pleasure -- just by being themselves.  I don't ask the nadina to produce the deep rich blue of the black-and-blue salvia, and yet I can sit and gaze at the combination of both side by side in the garden.  All they ask of me is that I situate them in the right place and provide enough water for their needs.

This morning I spent about 20 minutes setting up the sprinkler to make sure that the water reached the right plants.  And then I came inside to start my daily meditation.  Imagine my delight when I read Psalm 65:

You visit the earth, give it water; you fill it with riches.

God's ever-flowing river brims over to prepare the grain. 

And thus it  is you who prepare it: you drench its furrows;

You level it, soften it with showers; you bless its growth.

You crown the year with your bounty, and abundance flows in your pathways.

The pastures of the desert overflow, and the hills are girded with joy,

The meadows are clothed with flocks, and the valleys are decked with wheat.

They shout for joy, and even sing!

The Creator has not left us alone -- He still gazes at his handiwork and takes delight in what He has made.  He does not ask that we be different from what we are, or produce what is not part of our nature.  He delights in the differences and the contrasts -- and He still provides what we need to thrive.

The land of Israel from the beginning, as it is today, is dependent on Providence for water.  Water comes down from the mountains in the north, but it flows only through the Jordan River, a small stream that often runs dry.  That is why Jacob, after securing the birthright from his brother, also needed the blessing from his father.  In Hebrew, the words for blessing (berakah) and for pools of water (berekah) are almost identical.  The earth without God's blessing dries up and produces nothing.

And we too -- spiritually, physically, emotionally, mentally -- are totally dependent on God's "ever-flowing river."  Psalm 65 says, "abundance flows in your pathways."  God's delight, much like my own and that of every gardener and farmer, is to provide water so that HIs creation shouts for joy, and even sings!  

The Holy Spirit is the water of God's abundance, and it is His joy to provide it to all who seek.  Look at Matt. 7 and Luke 11.  Jesus urges us to ask, seek, and knock for the abundance we want and need.  Like every good gardener, God's delight is that we flourish where He has planted us!