DEPENDENT ON GOD'S PRESENCE

"They that wait upon the Lord. . .shall walk and not faint." Isaiah 40:31

   There is no thrill in walking; it is the test of all the stable qualities. To "walk and not faint" is the highest reach possible for strength. The word "walk" is used in the Bible to express the character--"John looking on Jesus as He walked, said, Behold the Lamb of God!" There is never anything abstract in the Bible, it is always vivid and real. God does not say--Be spiritual, but--"Walk before me."

   When we are in an unhealthy state physically or emotionally, we always want thrills. In the physical domain this will lead to counterfeiting the Holy Ghost; in the emotional life it leads to inordinate affection and the destruction of morality; and in the spiritual domain if we insist on getting thrills, on mounting up with wings, it will end in the destruction of spirituality.

   The reality of God's presence is not dependent on any place, but only dependent upon the determination to set the Lord always before us. Our problems come when we refuse to bank on the reality of His presence. The experience the Psalmist speaks of--"Therefore we will not fear, though. . ." will be ours when once we are based on Reality, not the consciousness of God's presence but the reality of it--"Why, He had been here all the time!

   At critical moments it is necessary to ask guidance, but it ought to be unnecessary to be saying always--"O Lord, direct me here, and there." Of course He will! If our common-sense decisions are not His order, He will press through them and check; them we must be quite and wait for the direction of His presence.