Breaking Forth

Today - I began to think about the amazing presence of God.  Have you ever considered how truly amazing it is that the same God who created the universe, who spoke the world into existence, who called light out of darkness, who brought order out of chaos, who took nothing and made everything - that very same God comes to take up residence within the life of every believer?  This is absolutely amazing to me considering the amazing power of God and the frailty of humanity.  How are we able to contain the awesomeness of the presence of God?

Ironically enough, God was concerned about the same thing.  As Moses was about to go the top of Mount Sinai, God and he had a conversation.  He told Moses that he should set a boundary, a stopping point at the base of the mountain because should the people break through and ascend the mountain, the presence of God would break forth and the people would die.  After Moses descended the mountain with the law of God, to protect the people, God chose to house His amazing presence inside the tabernacle behind a thick curtain or veil allowing only one person, the high priest, access to His awesome power.  Hundreds of years go by and God's presence remained hidden, veiled, limited to only a few and yet man longed for intimacy with God, and God desired relationship with man.  Man did everything he could to get good enough, to somehow become holy enough to be worthy of God's presence, inventing laws and modifications of God's laws to insure that man remained "holy" in an effort to deserve the presence of God.  Religious groups were formed; Pharisees, Sadducees, Essenes, and those were just the ones in Israel.  And no matter how hard they tried, they could not attain intimacy on their own - and God's presence remained veiled.

Then something amazing happened. . . this guy, an amazing sinless guy, one who had not been contaminated by the sin of this world, one who had actually come to the earth in the form of sinful man and had remained sinless, died on an awful instrument of torture - the cross.  And as he died, as he breathed his last breath, the veil, the 12 inch thick curtain, that had hidden the presence of God for so long was torn from top to bottom.  We were brought nigh unto God  by the blood of Christ, thus allowing all of us access to the presence of God, the very thing that God warned Moses would kill those who broke through to God and allowed His presence to break forth in their lives.

So why was I thinking about this today?  I think it just hit me - that my best attempts to be good enough, to be holy enough for God is an exercise in futility.  Although, I'm endeavoring to please God with my life and honestly desiring to make him happy, God's presence at work in my life is not contingent upon my ability to be good.  When He saved me from the clutches of sin, He supplied me with His Spirit, something so powerful that it gives me the ability to live a pleasing life for Him.  He proved that once and for all man's best attempts to get to Him were insufficient, but when the fulness of time had come, nothing could stop Him from breaking forth to us.  There was nothing we could do to get to Him, so He pursued us.  He came breaking thru every barrier to give you what you need to overcome every obstacle you face.

So today, I encourage you to allow the presence of God to break forth in your life and discover the greatness of a relationship, a relationship that He desires to have with you so much, that nothing, including religious tradition, could keep him from having with you.  God bless you - let's discover the nature of His amazing presence working in our life!