Some of us think and say a good deal about a sense of Christ’s
presence—sometimes rejoicing in it, sometimes going mourning all the day long
because we have it not; praying for it and not always seeming to receive what we
ask; measuring our own position, and sometimes even that of others, by it; now
on the heights, now in the depths about it.
And all this April-like gleam and gloom instead of steady summer glow is
because we are turning our attention upon the sense of His presence instead of
the changeless reality of it!
It comes practically to this: Are you a disciple of the Lord Jesus at
all? If so, He says to you, “I am with you
alway.” That overflows all the regrets
of the past and all the possibilities of the future and most certainly includes
the present. Therefore, at this very
moment, as surely as your eyes rest on this page, so surely is the Lord Jesus
with you. “I am” is neither “I was” or “I
will be”. It is always abreast of our
lives, always encompassing us with salvation.
It is a splendid, perpetual now.
Is it now too bad to turn round upon that gracious presence,
the Lord Jesus Christ’s own personal presence here and now, and, without one
note of faith or whisper of thanksgiving, say, “Yes, but I don’t realize it!” Then it is, after all, not the presence but
the realization that you are seeking—the shadow, not the substance! Honestly, it is so! For you have such an absolute assurance of
the reality put into the very plainest words of promise that divine love could
devise, that you dare not make Him a liar and say, “No! He is not with me!” All you can say is, “I don’t feel a sense of
His presence.” Well, then, be ashamed of
doubting your beloved Master’s faithfulness, and never open your mouth anymore
in His Presence about it. What shall we
say to our Lord? He says, “I am with you
always.” Shall we not put away all our
imperfect and double-fettered experience and say to Him lovingly and gratefully,
“Thou art with me!”
--Francis Ridley Havergal, Seasons of the Heart
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