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.