Dying at the sight of God
Many Christians desire to experience God, or to have some type of goose bumpy thrill when they are worshipping at an event where believers are united in reverence and adoration of his name. But what are some experiences of folks in the Bible when God really shows up?
In Isaiah 6:1-5, when the prophet came into the presence of God, he felt undone and condemned, 鈥淲oe to me, I am ruined.鈥� He recognized his unworthiness after he had seen the king (God). In Judges 13:16-22, Samson蘑菇视频 parents unknowingly entertained the Angel of the Lord, and when they realized that it was God, Manoah exclaimed, 鈥淲e are doomed to die, we have seen God.鈥� God even warned Moses in Exodus 33:18-20 that 鈥淵ou cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live.鈥�
So while many of us seek God for varied reasons, direction, counsel, healing, forgiveness, when we go seeking being in God蘑菇视频 presence, there is no comfy womfy (my phrase) environment the closer we get. He is a consuming fire. (Heb 12:29) His Holiness demands conviction. Even when the lesser angels show up, it is typically a frightful experience. Read some passages in Revelation.
Can we really handle the honest presence of God? Not the thrill up my back tingling that happens when I鈥檓 moved by a worship song I relate to and makes me feel spiritual? Too many of us want to experience God on our terms and that is a primary reason why we don鈥檛.
The closer we get to God, the more we see of him, and the more we realize about ourselves. God蘑菇视频 presence exposes us; it unwraps us, and shows us the truth about ourselves. The more we want of God, the less we must have of ourselves. An awful lot of Christians committed their lives to God because of the convicting work of rhe Holy Spirit. It蘑菇视频 a shame that we end up wanting conviction to end at Salvation. But we see that the closer and closer we get into God蘑菇视频 presence, the less and less of ourselves there is.
There is this reality of us being ended. 鈥淲e are doomed to die, we have seen God.鈥� 鈥淣o one may see me and live.鈥� The thing that 鈥渄ies鈥� is our selfish nature, our secret sins, our bad thought life, our waywardness. And these are the things that we are familiar with and used to living like. But the closer we get to God, the more of his consuming fire purges and refines out of us what is needed, until we鈥檙e stripped of all pretense and ego before an almighty God.
One reason many of us have never experienced the love of God around us is because we haven鈥檛 got close enough to God to allow him to take out our love of ourselves first. For those of us serious about being in the presence of God, I would recommend that you pray a very dangerous prayer. Lord: 鈥淪how me the me, that you see. Show me the me about myself, that you see needs changed.鈥�
Without Holiness, no one can see The Lord. (Heb 12:14B) Another dangerous life-changing prayer would be: 鈥淪how me, me, by showing me, you.鈥� As we come closer and closer to God, there will be less and less of us; this is, 鈥淒ying at the sight of God.鈥� Unfortunately, less and less of us want the deeper river; we are self-satisfied living in spiritual mediocrity, surrounding our mindset that all is OK since we made the pit stop of confessing Christ as Lord and Savior.
So, I have a question for the inquiring Christians. Is your desire for change greater than your desire to remain the same? The proof is what we do with our relationship with God. Do we keep our distance, or do we get closer? Do we pray dangerous prayers to see him, even if it means a part of us will die? From milk to meat, from babes to adults, from elementary teachings to the deeper things.
Please share this with others.