“You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.”  Jeremiah 29:13

Mistaken Identity

I remember when I was younger learning about the different people in the bible during Sunday school. Samson with his super-strength, the boy David taking down Goliath, Moses parting the Red Sea. I remember when I learned about Joshua how I paid a little extra attention because I knew that this was the man that I was named after. I grew up looking at Joshua as a great warrior and military commander, picturing him as being physically strong and quick thinking on the battle field. This is how I thought of the man and without fully understanding why, I thought of myself as being like him. I felt that my identity needed to be that of a man who was strong, brave and decisive. And yet, most of my young life was spent being anything but those things.

At fourteen I left the faith and became an atheist. By nineteen I was so afraid of conflict and making mistakes that I was practically mute, not wanting to talk to anyone or come out of my room. Fear dominated my life. After returning to Christianity I spent a few years attending church, reading everyday, praying as much as I could and trying my best to be a good Christian. Yet I kept succumbing to sin no matter how hard I resisted and was still very fearful and never did or said what I really wanted to. After about four years of getting nowhere with overcoming the same sins I eventually gave up on trying to not sin. I told God that I didn’t know what to do anymore, instead I needed Him to do something. And He did. I had an encounter with God that brought me out of a performance driven lifestyle and a focus on sin and ushered me into a real living relationship with God. A friend of mine had invited me to go to a place called Potters Place, which was a couple’s private property that they had turned into a place where anyone could come and spend time with the Lord away from all the busyness and noise of life.

Ill never forget that first visit or what the Lord spoke to me that day. At the time I was reading the book of Exodus and as I was reading chapters 32 and 33 I noticed something for the first time. As Moses was coming down the mountain he encountered Joshua. Remember that Moses was on the mountain for forty days and forty nights without food or water, which means that if Joshua was with him then he also didn’t eat or drink for that amount of time. So for forty days Joshua was somewhere on the mountain while Moses was at the top communing with God. And then when Moses set up the tent of meeting it says that Moses would go to the tent and Joshua would follow him but when Moses would finish he would return to the people yet Joshua remained at the tent(Ex. 33:7-11). And then I remembered the story of Joshua’s first day of leading the Israelites into battle (Exod. 17:8-13). The success or failure of Joshua and the Israelites was completely dependent upon Moses’s obedience to Gods command to keep his arms raised. And that’s when it hit me. Joshua wasn’t a great military leader or a warrior. In fact, when he lead Israel into the promised land he was at least 80 years old! His great success depended on something else.

Life in the Presence of God

I felt that the Lord was saying to me that Joshua was able to lead Israel, be victorious against thirty-one kings, defeating five at the same time, and tell the sun and moon to stand still and they did; not because he was such a great man but because he was a man after the Presence of God. Although the scriptures don’t tell us exactly what happened with Joshua while Moses was receiving the commandments, one can imagine that Joshua must of had an amazing time in the manifest Presence of God. Enough so that he didn’t want to leave the Tent of Meeting, the place where he could encounter God regularly! Joshua pursued life in the Presence of God above everything else. This resulted in a lifestyle where he was aware of the Presence even when he was busy.

I remember declaring to the Lord that that’s what I wanted to be: a man after the Presence of God. And in the past couple of years that’s exactly what I have been pursuing. Since then I have actually stopped focusing on my sins and performance and have overcome many of my fears. How? God did it. I dedicate as much free time as I can to just sit in the Presence of God and wait on Him to move or to speak. Sometimes I just praise Him and worship Him, other times I don’t move until He gives direction. Its not about reading more verse or saying more prayers.

The Omnipresence of God

God is omnipresent, which means that He is always present, He is always with us. A relationship is mutual which means that its success is not dependent just on how well you behave. It depends on two people showing up. And in this case God always shows up. Its up to us to search  for Him. “Glory in His holy name; let the hearts of those who seek the LORD rejoice! Seek the LORD and His strength; seek His Presence continually!” 1 Chronicles 16:12-11

His Presence is always with us, this is a truth about Gods nature. This never changes so we can trust Him to always be there. Loneliness is a lie of the enemy, its believing that no one is there with you which is impossible in light of the truth of Gods Presence.

The feats that Joshua performed is a great example of what a life lived in the Presence of God can look like, when a man or a woman lives with a constant awareness of God. What’s even greater still is that Joshua lived in the old testament period and did not have the indwelling of the Spirit. The same God who parted the Red Sea and came down in a pillar of fire and smoke now resides in you and me!

All it takes is for us to begin by taking a few minutes a day searching for Him. An even simpler discipline then reading scripture or praying is just focusing your attention towards Him. Let your mind stay upon Him, not upon your sins or worries. In His Presence is where we find freedom, hope and the truth of who we are as children of God. “For how shall it be known that I have found favor in Your sight, I and Your people? Is it not in Your going with us, so that we are distinct, I and Your people, from every other people on the face of the earth?” Exodus 33:16