The silence once again reminds you that you are alone. This reminder has surfaced a lot over the past few weeks. A few months ago your parents moved out of state. Now, there's hollow feeling in the pit of your stomach as you face the news that the last of your family is also moving out of state.
Confused, restless and a little depressed, you flop down on the large soft bed where you have spent so much time lately--a place where you find comfort, where you feel safe and where your thoughts seem a lot clearer. You reach over and pick up the bible. Not sure where to start, you open to the book of Matthew and start to read. The words seems to bring a quiet peace into your being and your body goes limp as it finally relaxes after a long, hard day.
A Presence, close, warm and intimate wakes you up. It's a Presence that you haven't felt too often, but every time you have, it has been just wonderful. As you sense the very real, overwhelming Presence at your side, you cannot believe the awesome feeling you are experiencing--comfort, love, reassurance, restfulness and a quiet peace.
During the days that follow, the memory of this overwhelming Presence lingers with you. Your thoughts revolve around your priorities in life--what is it that you want most for your life? Recollections of your pursuits for the perfect marriage partner, your endeavors to gain financial stability and the desires you have for intimate friendships and family relationships swirl around your mind. Without a doubt you realize that all you want is to have that Presence in your life. When you compare the fulfillment you experience in the midst of personal pursuit to the exhilarating rush of The Presence, the choice is obvious.
Your mind skips to role playing the reality of the agony that so many people have faced lately--9/11, the sniper attacks, job loss, economic collapse, etc. As you picture yourself in one of the World Trade Centers or outside, watching it collapse, as you step aboard one of those ill-fated planes, as you walk behind the casket of a precious loved one, you realize that The Presence will always be wherever you are. When all personal pursuits have be lost by whatever means, the same Presence will constantly surround you.
There's no going back. You can no longer cope with The Presence being sporadic and irregular. You want this to be part of every day of your life. You can now understand how a prosperous king like David can say the following words:
Psalms 16:8, 9, 11As you contemplate this new determination in your life, you realize that everything in your life is secondary to having The Presence--everything can be sacrificed in order to gain it. Now a new priority exists and a new schedule will follow. Inspired by the following scriptures, you determine to build your life around having The Presence come into your life before your day starts:
I have set the Lord always before me. Because he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken. Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body also will rest secure. You have made know to me the path of life; you fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand.Psalms 21:6
Surely you have granted him (the king) eternal blessings and made him glad with the joy of your presence.Psalms 31:19, 20
How great is your goodness, which you have stored up for those who fear you, which you bestow in the sight of men on those who take refuge in you. In the shelter of your presence you hide them from the intrigues of men; in your dwelling you keep them safe from the strife of tongues.
Psalms 90:14
Satisfy us in the morning with you unfailing love, that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days.Ps 143:8
Let the morning bring me word of your unfailing love, for I have put my trust in you. Show me the way I should go, for to you I lift up my soul.Lamentations 3:19-22
I remember my affliction and my wandering, the bitterness and the gall. I well remember them, and my soul is downcast within me. Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: Because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. I say to myself, "The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for him."
Months have passed. As you look back to that incredible encounter
of experiencing God's Presence, you know that He came to show you what you
could be experiencing every day. Now, as you schedule God as the first priority
of your day, you rejoice as that supernatural embrace illuminates every day.
From a focused meeting
in prayer, study of the Word and quiet meditation, The Presence penetrates
every moment of that day. Somehow people notice. "Something is different
about you," they say. You know that a Greater, Purer and Holy Mind has overshadowed
yours and that His Presence is shining out of you.
Every time you spend those precious sessions alone with God, the conviction within you strengthens--"this is what God wants for me," are the words that echo repeatedly in your mind. As you open the Scriptures and inspired writings, the messages are the same but said in different ways.
Desire of Ages, Ellen White, p. 331
Those who take Christ at His word, and surrender their souls to His keeping, their lives to His ordering, will find peace and quietude. Nothing of this world can make them sad when Jesus makes them glad by His presence. In perfect acquiescence there is perfect rest. The Lord says, "Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on Thee: because he trusteth in Thee." Isa 26:3. Our lives may seem a tangle; but as we commit ourselves to the wise Master Worker, He will bring out the pattern of life and character that will be to His own glory . . .As through Jesus we enter into rest, heaven begins here. We respond to His invitation, Come, learn of Me, and in thus coming we begin the life eternal. Heaven is a ceaseless approaching to God through Christ. The longer we are in the heaven of bliss, the more and still more of glory will be opened to us; and the more we know of God, the more intense will be our happiness. As we walk with Jesus in this life, we may be filled with His love, satisfied with His presence. All that human nature can bear, we may receive here.