The language of the Psalms describing being
in God’s presence is diverse and complex. There is “no-one-size-fits-all”
description, magic formula or descriptive word to make it happen. Presence shows up in joyful Psalms as we enter
the courts with praise or in the lament in a pit. Presence is something the
Psalmists long for, cry out for or at times, equate with life itself. In the
day of the Psalmist as well as today, this idea/experience is both by faith and,
to use a phrase from Francis A. Schaeffer, “moment by moment.” Why is it so
hard to describe this experience? Let me explore this question first from the
Biblical theological perspective and then from an historical overview. Next we
will look a Psalm to help recover the language of the Psalm to shape, encourage
and describe our devotional life that we will study in Wednesday’s community
group.
In the creation account of Genesis 3 we read the
story where the created order changed. “And they heard the sound of the Lord
God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid
themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden… therefore
the Lord God sent him out from the garden of Eden to work the ground from which
he was taken.” We were created to walk with God. The man and his wife listened
to the serpent and then acted on those words instead of the words of the LORD God.
The man and his wife hid from the presence of the LORD God. The rest of the
Biblical story in scripture is about the restoration of that lost everyday
presence by a God who comes looking for those who hid among the trees of the
garden. Fast forward to the last chapter in the Bible, Revelation 22, and this
description “No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God
and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him. They will see
his face, and his name will be on their foreheads.” Consider the following
highlights of Biblical events that describe the presence of God: The smoking
pot of Genesis 15, the burning bush of Exodus 3, the pillars of cloud and fire
of Exodus 13 and the cloud at the temple dedication in 2 Chronicles 5. Ezekiel
10 tells the account of the glory of the LORD departing the temple. In the New
Testament we have the Incarnation and Pentecost. The last words of Jesus in
Matthew are, “And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
Recovering the descriptive language and practice of the experience of
being/living in God’s presence will encourage us in our devotional life, the focus
of the community group study, and life together. Now we turn to some history of
our topic.
Historically our lack
of descriptive language for our devotional experiences has come I believe, from
fear. First, the fear of not getting both the description and the experience itself
right. Then the twin fears of extremes—uncontrolled ecstasy and dead routine rituals.
As modern people who
care about what the Bible says, we want, rightfully, to get things right. It is
our perception of what is right that I want explore by reflecting on the
language of the Psalms. In the Psalms we
have descriptions of mountain top and valley experiences, the experiences of
youth and old age, the weak and the strong, and of the rich, the poor, and the oppressed.
As we read and prayerfully reflect on the Psalms we will experience a diversity
of situations, authors and styles of language. Experiencing the presence of God
is not a checklist activity, yet often there are common themes and
descriptions. The saints of the past experienced both ecstasy and the wilderness.
Sometimes our devotions will seem like routine rituals where we long for
something more, even if we are not sure how to describe what more would be. Fear
needs to be replaced by faith. Faith needs to be shaped and encouraged by the
language of the Psalms in our devotional lives/experiences.
I wrote this last week for my Facebook page: “One
of the goals of repentance is being/remaining in the presence of God. Psalm 38
is both a confession of sin and self-analysis of repentance in the language of
a poet. “My wounds stink and fester because of my foolishness,…O Lord, all my
longing is before you; my sighing is not hidden from you…I confess my iniquity;
I am sorry for my sin…Do not forsake me, O Lord! O my God, be not far from me!”
These verses come from one of the Psalms on being present with God both in life
and devotions, and we will consider it next in Community Group. As always, read
all of Psalm 38 for context and the complete text.” These verses can be the
start of our prayers.
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