The Awesome Presence of God

UV 551/10,000 Jude 1 v 24 The Awesome Presence of God “Now unto Him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy” God’s grace is not for later but for us to avail right now. It is like the oxygen that flows through our nostrils to our lungs to keep us alive physically. Similarly, God’s grace, love, mercy and truth are sustaining us spiritually in this evil world. We have two legs to walk on to stand firm and to keep us from loosing balance and falling- grace and truth. Our walk with God implies that we walk on our two spiritual limbs- we first hear truth, get convicted of our fallen or sinful nature. We then rely on grace to make up for our shortcomings. Just as one leg follows or alternates with the other, throughout our spiritual journey we walk first on truth, then on grace till we stand before Him to receive our crown of righteousness for living a life of overcoming. The truth of God’s Word will tell us where we are falling short and then grace will move ahead to make up for that shortcoming. We should be confident that He is able to finish the good work of faith He started in our lives by perfecting us. We have fault-lines running through our personal history and character. But, the Lord will cement these fault-lines with His love and grace. He will then present us faultless or blemishless before the throne of God. When a person is introduced to royalty, the word used is “ presented.” I was presented to Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth by the Director General of the British Council in India as an honour on winning the inaugural British Gurukul Scholarship for Excellence and Leadership in 1997 ( India’s golden jubilee). Those of us who were so presented thought it a great honour. We were briefed not to profer our hands to shake unless she did and to address her as “ Your Majesty or Madam.” But, it is a much greater honour to be presented to the King of Kings. I acknowledged it by presenting a Bible to the Queen in which I wrote, “ May the King of Kings bless your Majesty.” When we were presented to the Queen and as we conversed with her, it struck me that she was just an ordinary elderly person in dainty clothes and a matching hat. Our sense of excitement evaporated. But, when we stand in the awesome presence of the Lord we will be filled with an inexplicable and overflowing joy. The glory of His presence has a transforming effect on ordinary human beings even as just the fact that the Lord Jesus was with His disciples, they were transformed into extraordinary apostles. Their tiny footprints that would ordinarily be confined to the shores of that glorified lake, the Sea of Galilee left a lasting and indelible impression on many lives, nations and generations to this day and for all time to come. Prateep V Philip