Living in the Protective Presence of God



Those who trust in the Lord are like Mount Zion, which cannot be shaken but endures forever. As the mountains surround Jerusalem so the Lord surrounds his people both now and forever. Psalm 125:1, 2

(Two things you can always see in Santiago: the Andes Mountains and Smog)

            I spent many of my childhood years in Santiago, Chile, one of the cities with the highest level of air pollution in the world. This is because it sits in a valley surrounded with mountains so that all of the smog emitted by autos and factories cannot escape but remains building up in a city of over six million inhabitants. We, however, can be surrounded by God as the mountains around Santiago so that not smog, but the presence and goodness of God can be what we inhale and exhale daily in our lungs.
            During World War I and II the German's never occupied neutral Switzerland because that nations is made up of mountains. These mountains made that nation unconquerable for invading forces. So is the presence of God like mountains of protection that protect us from hostile forces such fear, anger, and jealousy. "If the Lord had not been on our side...the flood would have engulfed us. Psalm 124:11, 4b.
            In 1953 an entire province of the Netherlands (Zeeland) was flooded due to a large storm which broke a wall of dikes. Over two thousand people died in that natural disaster. Since then, this small nation has invested billions of euros into securing a system of inpenetrable dikes and dams that should make such a flood impossible again. In 2005, Hurricane Katrina destroyed the city of New Orleans because such a system of dikes and dams had not been built to secure that city. Our best place where we can find refuge and safety is not in dikes or dams, but in knowing the reality of the protective presence of God.
            A lot of where we find our security and peace of mind is determined by what we focus on. The Prophet Isaiah says that God "will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you [God], all whose thoughts are fixed on you!" (Isaiah 26:3). Paul writes that "we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory..." (2 Cor. 3:18). We become like what we look at. What we believe at the core of our being truly forms us.
            When I spend a lot of time focusing on news and politics, I become discouraged and unhappy. But when I spend time meditating on God and his word, I come to life. We will shine when we fill ourselves up with God's presence, but if we only think about darkness we may suck it up like a sponge takes in a bottle of black ink. This may be catastrophic for ourselves and those around us because: "...as a man thinks in his heart, so is he" (Proverbs 27:3 NKJV).
            This is why together with the psalmist I rejoice with those who said to me, "Let us go to the house of the Lord" (Psalm 122:1). Getting to know God and being with him changes everything in our lives. Like butter melting on an iron pan or snow melting in the summer sun, so God's irresistible, loving presence changes everything. His eternal faithless and boundless love truly fills my heart with good things. It is in His faithfulness and beauty that I put my life's trust and therein I find great love, peace, satisfaction and security.


Those who live in the shelter of the Most High will find rest in the shadow of the Almighty. Psalm 91:1

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