God in The Booth (part 1)

One accented theme woven into my life and world view is the forever and always presence of God. God is close. He is next to you wherever you may be. There is no place you are He isn’t.

“Can anyone hide in secret places so that I cannot see him?" declares the LORD.
"Do not I fill heaven and earth?" - Jeremiah 23

You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways.
…Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. - Psalm 139

No place.

Right now, where you sit reading this… perched on the corner of the very desk/table your computer sits is the God of Whom it is said that neither earth nor even the highest of heavens can contain.

Whoa! What does that stir up in you?

(to be continued)

– Craig McConnell

Comments

[Glenn]

Hmm. What does it stir up?

Well, it makes me think that if there is nothing that can contain Him (if there's nothing that can keep Him in), then there's nothing that can keep Him out, either.

... There is no situation. No nightmarish disaster of a hell hole that can keep Him from reaching in to bring restoration, renewal, and deliverance.

Thanks for the reminder, Craig.

[Norma]

Just what I needed tonight, Craig. Ps 139 is my favorite Psalm but still need to be reminded..why do I forget? PRACTICE HIS PRESENCE!! We used to sing a song called, "He's as close as the mention of His name...Jesus."

[jill dyer]

Gratitude.

A moment of stillness to actually absorb the beautiful mountians I live under.

Then, a bit of sadness. The deepest relationship I could even want is "perched" right beside me. Yet the mundane 24/7 of my mothering life often stifles my hunger or I try to satiate it with "small indulgences."

This stirring also gets me thinking in another way...I notice my children are used to the fact that I often choose not to engage them and instead become task oriented. Some of the most precious relationships in this world are also "perched" right beside me most of the time. Yet I do not engage...

I am grieved.

Jesus, I ask that my sadness and grief would move me so close to you that I would be unable to continue as I am. O love, live into me.

[Amy]

It stirs in me longing. . . for Him. A longing to experience the comfort,fierce power, and love that comes with His closesness. Intellectually, I can read the words - I know them. And yet, I am very saddened when I read it and replay it in my mind because I often do not "see" Him. I feel distance. So I pray . . . many times . . .on my face . . . "Show yourself to me and help me to see you." Even as I write this I question if I can give voice to these thoughts. But I know that only in honesty, even struggle with Him, will I know intimacy with Him.

[David Felts]

What does it stir up? Really my first thought was, "Oh crap...did He see that?". I mean I intellectually realize that God is always there, but at some level I think He is really too busy with everything else that is going on in the world to bother with me all the time.
Wow, that's huge, where did that come from? Possibly my wounding, that I was just not important enough for my dad to be there for me. I mean I know that he was a good provider, and that he is a good man, but he really never had time just for me, so maybe that's how I think God is. A great provider, he loves me, it's just that He doesn't really have time for me.
Okay, I'm going to have to unpack this...thanks Craig, once again you've got me to thinking....strength and honor....

[Laura]

Thank you, Craig. He has been speaking to me about this recently. Sometimes when I pray the bedtime prayer I am tempted to fear...which sounds really weird, I know, but...sometimes as I am praying, I become very, very aware of the battle that rages....and I always must rouse myself to remember that He is right here with me and that evil cannot touch me, though it wants to. And so, it's very comforting.

And it's also overwhelming. To think that He really loves me that much...that He wants to be with me always. It makes me want to get on my knees and weep. But, that is exactly what He promised us. He will never leave us or forsake us. He really does love us that much. Wow.

[David Felts]

On a side note Craig, I noticed as I have been unpacking what was stirred yesterday that I was almost dismissive to my youngest son when he called to tell me that he had found something that was lost. My first thought was, I don't have time for this....and immediately was taken back to that fact that my dad didn't have time for me....oh, there is so much here...thanks again bro, I really appreciate this blog more than ever now....strength and honor...

[Spice]

Craig funny I was journaling about this today when I opened this blog. Why is it so many of us are searching or arranging or striving to find God or hear his intimate voice or listen to the indwelling Spirit? I asked my 8 year old daughter the question-"Claire, you seem to always know God is with you and speaks to you. How do you know? Later in the day she gave me the answer. "Dad, I am ready to answer your question. He loves me. I know he is all around me and he speaks to me in my heart. I don't always listen because I am not perfect, but I know he is with me and loves me."

She knows. She believes. She lives in that. Why can't we adults?

[Jenny]

When my children were little they would ask, "How do you know God is real if you can't see him?" It would help them understand the concept of God if I encouraged them to picture him as being like the air or wind. The air is invisible but all around you. You breathe it in. The wind, though you can't see it, you feel it and can see what it does, like when it blows leaves through the air. That was all the answer their sweet, child-like faith needed. They understood. It was a good answer for my heart as well.

[Don Colborn]

This afternoon a song that I haven't played in years popped into my head... "Anointing Fall On Me" I sat at the piano and played it as my wife sang it and it was quite moving. However I'm reminded that I'm all too familiar with the type of anointing that falls "on" me. You know...those moments when God shows up and does a special outward "thing", maybe in ministry or whatever. I need to be more aware though of the Holy Spirit's work "in" me which is constant and really brings the maturity I need.... Thanks Craig

[Vern Hyndman]

This reminds me of the work that St. John of the Cross and Theresa of Avila did... made accessible for me through the work of Gerald May in his book "Dark Night of the Soul", named for the famous work by SJotC. http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Dark-Night-of-the-Soul/Gerald-G-May/e/9780060750558/?itm=2

May talks about how both John and Theresa experienced the incredible sense of the Spirit living in them, but that despite the spiritual disciplines and the lifestyle of worship and humility they lead, there were times where God felt far from them. And in the end, they came to the realization that we grasp God as we grasp Him... that when He becomes graspable to us, He inevitably requires us to surrender our grasp so that He might give us a larger, more complete relationship with Him... and in the interim, even though Christ is IN us, He feels far from us... that our sense of aloneness is more about our perception than about really being alone... and that this process is iterative. This is a theme that JE covers as well in Desire... the cyclical nature of life that God ordains for us.

So since Advanced, I have been feeling alone and isolated, like I don't have the emotional strength to even reach for life... but I also live in the hope that Life lives in me, and that my senses are important yet not definitive.

Pain is like the gas gauge of my car, it is important and I should not ignore it, yet it makes a really poor GPS. Pain is a gift... and significantly, Jesus healing the lepers was to restore the gift of pain to them.

So right now, like St John and Thersa... I'm in pain and feel alone... but I have lived through so many iterations of growth that I know better than to agree that I truly am alone... I am living in the expectancy of a greater and more complete grasp and experience of God... and this hope that lives in me sustains me past the feelings that summon fear.

-vern-

[Jenny]

Vern, I was really touched by your comment and wanted to tell you so. I appreciated your honest, vulnerable response and empathized with you. Your last paragraph felt especially familiar. There have been stages of my journey where I also felt very alone and in pain. You are right not to agree with those feelings and your choice to "live in the expectancy of a greater and more complete grasp and experience of God" is so courageous. I'm confident God will honor your response, giving you more of himself. I've seen it happen in my own life. Be encouraged today.

[Tony Devine]

So close yet so far away.

My prayers have been for an increase in my desire for Him and for His word. Just today at the christian book store I felt like buying a new bible hoping that would spark what I've been longing for. I also sat reading bits of Mere Christianity hoping to catch the sense of awe I first felt after reading it so many years ago. I am asking for more desire because I feel like something is missing. Maybe desire isn't what I need, seems its filling me now pushing me to respond to this blog.

God is right beside me, yet stills seems far away.

What's missing?

[Craig McConnell]

Glenn,
You're right, you're welcome. - Craig

[Craig McConnell]

Norma,
At this moment, at every moment, He is present, longing and offering all we most deeply want... Him!

[Craig McConnell]

Jill,
I wonder with you how many invitations to love or be loved are missed. Little paths to garden nooks, great back alley bakeries, an alpine brook, moments connecting are passed by in our rush to... (where exactly?).

Open our eyes dear Christ.

[Craig McConnell]

I have read and paused over each of your comments. My goodness what a journey we all share.

Someone, I forget who, said, “A journey is best measured in friends rather than miles”. This blogging “thing” has been a wonderful journey. Thanks friends.

May we know, worship and follow the forever, always, everywhere present God. – Craig McConnell