There's a serenity, a tranquility and soul quietness that comes not just from calm or peaceful surroundings free from adversity but from Whom you are with. Knowing that... someone has your back, that nothing can move or shake you apart from admittance by an infinitely good Father who can cause five to chase 100 and 100 to put 10,000 to flight... imbues one with unshakable security - unshakable as long as one REMEMBERS this truth.
In reading on peace this week, I came across this passage - a promise of peace in the land as a gift for those who walk in obedience, accompanied by a greater GIFT of Himself and the promise that He Himself would abide, would dwell with and be the I AM, the All Sufficient in the midst of a people. I feel like if I but saw the reality of His power or even just the angels tasked to guard me, or my children, nothing could shake me or make me afraid ever again. Yet, seeing is not believing, for Israel saw many things and many times failed to believe. But believing is having full CONFIDENCE in the unalterable TRUTH of what He says and knowing HE IS whom He says HE IS.
I want to be like Moses who told GOD he wouldn't move on until He knew God would continue to go with them and before them...or even more like Joshua who wouldn't leave the tent of meeting outside the camp because he wanted to just be where He was. No wonder he was chosen as the next leader of God's people. He had seen it all, errors in the people, errors in leadership and had come to know that there was nothing life had to offer better than being in God's presence. When others fail us, when earthly joys are hard to come by, when change is hard and staying in the same spot is harder, when we can't see our way or temptations seem irresistible, His abiding presence makes all the difference in the world and is Constancy, JOY, Clarity, Righteousness and Grace unending.
If His abiding presence isn't the essence of peace, I don't know what is...So, my pursuit of peace leads me also to pursue His abiding presence, to be rooted and grounded in Him and to live in His presence and in the confidence that He is Who He says He is and He is for me!
In reading on peace this week, I came across this passage - a promise of peace in the land as a gift for those who walk in obedience, accompanied by a greater GIFT of Himself and the promise that He Himself would abide, would dwell with and be the I AM, the All Sufficient in the midst of a people. I feel like if I but saw the reality of His power or even just the angels tasked to guard me, or my children, nothing could shake me or make me afraid ever again. Yet, seeing is not believing, for Israel saw many things and many times failed to believe. But believing is having full CONFIDENCE in the unalterable TRUTH of what He says and knowing HE IS whom He says HE IS.
If His abiding presence isn't the essence of peace, I don't know what is...So, my pursuit of peace leads me also to pursue His abiding presence, to be rooted and grounded in Him and to live in His presence and in the confidence that He is Who He says He is and He is for me!
Leviticus 26:3 “‘If you follow my decrees and are careful to obey my commands, 4 I will send you rain in its season, and the ground will yield its crops and the trees their fruit. 5 Your threshing will continue until grape harvest and the grape harvest will continue until planting, and you will eat all the food you want and live in safety in your land.
6 “‘I will grant peace in the land, and you will lie down and no one will make you afraid. I will remove wild beasts from the land, and the sword will not pass through your country. 7 You will pursue your enemies, and they will fall by the sword before you. 8 Five of you will chase a hundred, and a hundred of you will chase ten thousand, and your enemies will fall by the sword before you.
9 “‘I will look on you with favor and make you fruitful and increase your numbers, and I will keep my covenant with you. 10 You will still be eating last year’s harvest when you will have to move it out to make room for the new. 11 I will put my dwelling place[a] among you, and I will not abhor you. 12 I will walk among you and be your God, and you will be my people. 13 I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt so that you would no longer be slaves to the Egyptians; I broke the bars of your yoke and enabled you to walk with heads held high.
- Abide with me; fast falls the eventide;
The darkness deepens; Lord, with me abide;
When other helpers fail and comforts flee,
Help of the helpless, oh, abide with me. - Swift to its close ebbs out life’s little day;
Earth’s joys grow dim, its glories pass away;
Change and decay in all around I see—
O Thou who changest not, abide with me. - I need Thy presence every passing hour;
What but Thy grace can foil the tempter’s pow’r?
Who, like Thyself, my guide and stay can be?
Through cloud and sunshine, Lord, abide with me. - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3PrwSTyPJtw
- I fear no foe, with Thee at hand to bless;
Ills have no weight, and tears no bitterness;
Where is death’s sting? Where, grave, thy victory?
I triumph still, if Thou abide with me. Hold Thou Thy cross before my closing eyes;
Shine through the gloom and point me to the skies;
Heav’n’s morning breaks, and earth’s vain shadows flee;
In life, in death, O Lord, abide with me.
Abide With Me
Story behind the hymn
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