Date: July 18th, 2010
Speaker: Jill Cavanagh
Title: Seeking the Presence of God
First, I want to say thank you to the deacons and the leadership team and even the congregation, for giving me this opportunity to minister. Two weeks ago I had my last interview with the credentialing team in Camrose and Pastor Kevin asked me if I was nervous. I replied, You know, no I am not. It’s a case if God wants me to do this, all will go well and if He doesn’t, then I wouldn’t want to do it anyway.
I want you all to know how much I do love what I am doing. I love visiting with those who can’t get to church because of either illness or age. I love doing the pre-marital counseling. I love marrying couples. Last year I had 2 weddings and this year I have 4, which has been so much fun. I may have told you this before, but I have a 95 year old friend waiting for me to do her funeral (which I’ve told her not to rush). And most of all I am glad to help Pastor Kevin carry some of the load. Pastor Kevin delivers the meat and potatoes of a message and today, I am delivering a salad. It is a little lighter than usual, but, I am praying it will still get the point across.
Those thoughts of meeting with the credentials team and feeling “I wouldn’t want to do it, unless God was in it” lead us right into today’s message, which continues in Exodus. In continuing our theme, shaping your future, how better is it to have a future where God is present?
In Exodus 33 we see what it means to want the presence of God. Pastor Kevin will give more detail next week, but I hope to illustrate this passage through personal stories. Aristotle has said “the soul never thinks without a picture.” In providing the pictures, I pray you too will know what it is to “experience the presence” of God.
Exodus 33:1-6 and 12-19.
Then the Lord said to Moses. “Leave this place, you and the people you brought up out of Egypt, and go to the land I promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, saying, “I will give it to your descendants. I will send an angel before you and drive out the Canaanites, Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. Go up to the land flowing with milk and honey. But I will not go with you, because you are a stiff-necked people and I might destroy you on the way.”
When the people heard these distressing words, they began to mourn and no one put on any ornaments. For the Lord had said to Moses, “Tell the Israelites, “You are a stiff-necked people. If I were to go with you even for a moment, I might destroy you. Now take off your ornaments and I will decide what to do with you. So the Israelites stripped off their ornaments at Mount Horeb.
Moses said to the Lord, “You have been telling me, Lead these people, but you have not let me know whom you will send with me. You have said, “I know you by name and you have found favor with me. If you are pleased with me, teach me your ways so I may know you and continue to find favor with you. Remember that this nation is your people. The Lord replied, “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.”
Then Moses said to him, “If your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here. How will anyone know that you are pleased with me and with your people unless you go with us? What else will distinguish me and your people from all the other people on the face of the earth?”
And the Lord said to Moses, “I will do the very thing you have asked, because I am pleased with you and I know you by name.”
And the Lord said, “I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the Lord, in your presence. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.
Some of the most powerful messages I have heard here, were a few years ago when the deacons were sharing their personal struggles with life and how God led them through. I don’t think personal experiences need to be a part of every Sunday message, but some time ago when teaching adult Sunday school I asked people to share when they had experienced Gods personal presence and many of the class could not do it. I was so surprised and somewhat shocked because I thought everyone experienced the presence of God. Many of the people in the Sunday school class believed in God, they knew God, they knew scripture, but they hadn’t felt the presence of God. I have felt, and experienced God in so many stories and because it was powerful when the deacons shared their progress; I hoped my stories would help you to think about, where you may have experienced the presence of the Lord, and perhaps not recognized it.
1. If you want to be and do and go where God wants you to, ask Him to be present.
Exodus 33:14-15
“My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest. Then Moses said to him, “If your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here. How will anyone know that you are pleased with me and with your people unless you go with us? What else will distinguish me and your people from all the other people on the face of the earth?”
In essence, Moses is saying “If you are not going, I am not going!!”
My first experience that I can recall, not wanting something unless God was in it, was when I went to work at the Christian Counseling Centre.
I saw a notice in the paper, advertising for a counselor at the Christian Counseling Centre. I liked the idea of working there. I was pursuing my Masters Degree in counseling, but I was still short some classes. I knew I probably needed more qualifications, but I phoned and asked a few questions. The director was a fellow I took some counseling classes with and we had a nice chat.
The deadline for the job came and I found myself in hospital a couple of days with an allergic reaction to a medication. The thought passed through my mind that the timing is not right and this job is not meant for me.
The following week, after being released from hospital I heard from the director.
“Jill, were you going to apply for this job?”
“I was sick and the deadline had passed, so I didn’t think of it again.”
“Would you consider bring your resume in?”
“You know I’ve had my teaching job so long I don’t have a resume.”
“Could you get one together and bring it to the office?”
“I think I could get one ready, but I have no one to type it.”
“My secretary will type it, if you can get it here by Tuesday.”
I drop off the application and like Moses, spend the night talking to the Lord. I beg the Lord, “Please don’t let me have this job unless you are going to walk with me through it” Exodus 33:12 from the Living bible says, “You say you are my friend, and that I have found favor before you: please, if this is really so, guide me clearly along the way you want me to travel so that I will understand you and walk acceptably before you. For don’t forget that this nation is your people.”
I get the job. Others more qualified have applied. Peace comes from knowing I asked the Lord if he would go with me on this career path. Peace comes from knowing I didn’t manipulate anything or anybody to get this job. I didn’t ask for any strings to be pulled, in fact, just the opposite – I said to the Lord,”Don’t let me have it unless you are in it!”
My peace and rest lasts until my first client.
Picture me sitting in my new office, paper and pens on the desk, books on the shelf and waiting for my first ever client and I am thinking, goodness gracious; who do I think I am. I can’t even solve my own problems let alone anyone else’s. Moisture appears on my brow.
A young woman is my first client. She tells me she has been married for five years. She is experiencing trouble in her relationship. We talk.
I remember absolutely nothing. I give her some sort of homework and a smile.
Two weeks later she returns. She is thrilled with some changes in the relationship. She is bubbling with new vision and love for her husband. She refers two friends.
I notice that whatever happened, was not about me. I did invite God to walk with me and support me in my work. But, I know he handled the first client all by himself!! If you want God to be present, simply ask Him for it. ----------------------------says, If you actively seek God, you will find Him.
2. It isn’t perfection that leads to his Presence, but Gods Grace.
Exodus 33:19 – And the Lord said, “I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the Lord, in your presence. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion
Another picture for the soul. I meet Bea (phony name) for the first time when she comes to see me about her marriage. She is angry and hurt and frustrated. She spills and spews her frustration. When she is finished, I tell her I understand some of it. I share with her a story, I was recently reading, about Corrie Ten Boom. The story said Corrie was grateful to God for cockroaches in her prison cell, because it gave her something to eat. Now listen to this answer of an educated woman, working on her Masters degree in Psychology.
“You know Bea, when I feel frustrated with my marriage I remember Corrie Ten Boom. I figure if she could live with cockroaches, I can live with my husband. It’s all a matter of perspective.”
She laughs and laughs. I think laughter pushes her hope buttons. She sets out to work on perspective and find things about her husband she can be thankful for. It wasn’t brilliance that came up with that statement, but God chose to use it anyway. I don’t have to be brilliant to have Him work with the people He wants to touch and change lives. Imagine how much education you need to tell a woman that living with your husband is like living with a cockroach.
3. He is patient and doesn’t destroy us even when we are stiff necked. He is the God of second chances.
My daughter is coming home tonight from university, just for the weekend. She only eats white things: potatoes, chicken, turkey, pasta, bread, French fries and mozzarella cheese. I take turkey out of the freezer to thaw on Thursday morning. I will cook it tomorrow and will serve it with all the trimmings. I can’t wait to see her!
On Thursday morning I am up early and out to church to set up for a weekend workshop. I check my list and make sure I have all the things I need: pencils, paper, felt pens, name tags, over heads, books, binders and bible. I love getting ready! I take bags of extra’s along to give a woman’s touch: candles, matches, rose bowls, roses, muffins, and cheese. At about four o’clock I remember I didn’t put the turkey in the oven. Oh rats!!
The next morning, (and now the turkey has been thawing all day Thursday and Friday), I go to put the turkey in the oven. I am shocked to see on the wrapper that it says, DO NOT THAW_ THIS TURKEY IS ALREADY STUFFED. At the same time I hear my husband coming into the kitchen. I quickly rip the label back on the wrapper so he can’t see the words (he is such a stickler for following the rules). But, an internal conflict begins:
“This turkey has been thawed for two days. If I cook it, I could food poison my whole family”
“If I don’t cook it, Gord will likely kill me for being forgetful and wasteful.
OK Lord, my family or me. Who goes up on the chopping block?
And at this point I could easily see the Lord saying to me. “You are a stiff necked woman. If I were to go with you even for a moment, I might destroy you.
So, I pull the label back around the turkey.
“Gord, this is strange. This wrapper says, ‘do not thaw, turkey is stuffed”
My husband looks at me calmly, takes a garbage bag from the closet, sticks the turkey in the bag, walks outside to the garbage can and puts the bag and contents in the garbage can. He senses my apprehension and refrains from pointing out my short comings.
Ahh, God is present again!! I think I see him in my husband!!
If you want to experience God’s presence in your life, here’s what do you need to do.
1. Ask Him to be present. He tells us all the time He loves us. He wants to walk with you.
2. You don’t have to be perfect for Him to have mercy and compassion on you. It’s His love for us that keeps Him wanting to walk with us.
3. He wants to give you a second chance. He is the God of second chances.
While taking a class at Caronport, I had to write a poem based on the word Faithfulness and this is the poem. It talks about waiting on the Lord, to make the decisions He wants to make, as to the places I will go.
Faithfulness
John 5: 30 says “ I can do nothing by myself.. my aim is to do not my own will , but the will of him who sent me.
You are the bow, Lord,
I am the arrow.
I stand in the quiver
Safe on your back, where no one but you
Can reach for me and send me on my flight.
I stand quietly, wanting your touch
Knowing that when I am chosen
You will be the first to know I am ready!
I am secure, understanding no one else
will remove me from the quiver but you.
I wonder what sets the others apart
Why have you already aimed” some on their way.
I know by the time you aim me, you will have compassion
And mine will be a special flight.
I pray, you and I together, will hit the bulls eye!