The Promise of God's Eternal Presence

“The LORD shall preserve thee from all evil: he shall preserve thy soul. The LORD shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this time forth, and even for evermore.” (Ps 121:7-8 AV)

 

What a promise!  We know this promise is not a guarantee of a trouble-free life.  Even the Old Testament saint didn’t believe God would give him a prosperous and trouble-free life.  Peter and Paul both tell us that persecutions and trials of faith are part of the saint’s life.  There is no escaping it.  We also have the issue of sin.  Consequences we bring upon ourselves, or the consequences of living in a world of sin, are part of everyday life.  Death comes upon all men for all men sin.  Heartaches and strife are part of our existence.  As the book of Job tells us, men are born unto trouble as the sparks fly upward.  We do not look at the promise above as one we can claim to end all difficulties.  Rather, the promise is for the soul.  The promise I not for the body.  The soul is safe in the hands of God.  There is nothing that can separate us from the love of God.  Nothing!  No matter the future, God is with His children and will comfort them in times of trouble.  He will guide them with the words of His mouth.  He will strengthen them by the Holy Spirit that resides within.  The promise above is for the presence of God, not the end of all problems.  This will come in eternity.  Until then, we have the promise of God's presence.

We live two blocks from an active railroad track.  This means there are certain times of day when the train goes by and we can feel it shake the house.  Sometimes it is worse than others.  For us, this is usually Sunday nights around 10:30 pm.  There are other times of day, but it seems this particular train has more effect on our house.  My wife and I lay in our beds and we might be watching the weather channel or some news.  Then the train comes by.  You wouldn’t think a train passing by at almost six hundred yards would cause much angst, but it does.  It shakes the house and our bed just enough to make us feel unsettled.  There is something about that train, and others like it, that resonates our house.  It is not a low rumble.  Rather, it is a rhythmic shaking of the house enough to make it feel like the house will collapse.  Our house probably doesn’t move enough to measure by a standard ruler but it sure feels like our bed will fall to pieces and the roof would come down.  A very low and subtle shaking of the house is a rhythmic pattern that makes it feel unsettling.  However, knowing the house has stood for over one hundred years with thousands of like trains passing by over that time eases the mind.  If the house was going to fall to the ground, it would have done so a long time ago.  The sure foundation beneath the building eases our emotions as we ride it out.

God is always there.  Regardless if we can sense His presence or not, He is an omnipresent God who does not come and go because He cannot be in two places at the same time.  He never leaves nor forsakes.  He loves us with an everlasting love and is deeply concerned with our anxieties and fears.  Life is like that train.  There is no promise of peace and tranquility on this side of glory.  But God is always there and will guide us through it all.  He will guarantee we arrive at our heavenly destination no worse for the ware.  We may have to learn to trust Him along the way.  We may have to learn to forsake sin as well.  We may have to endure hardships as good soldiers for the gospel of Jesus Christ.  We may have to overcome the devil, the world, and the flesh.  But through it all, God will be right there.  He will not abandon us.  He will guide is with the presence of His glory.  Salvation becomes sweeter every day.  The fact that Jesus was willing to die for us is a thought that comforts the heart.  If He loved us enough to die for us, He is not about to leave us to ourselves.  The Father loved us enough to forsake His own Son as He bore our sins on the cross.  If He loved us enough to forsake His own Son, He cannot forsake us.  The promise above may not end our illness, balance our checkbook, or keep us from harm's way.  What it will do is guarantee that if we trust Him, we will weather whatever life has for us and come out at the other end having pleased our loving Father.