To the question: Is God with you? Most evangelicals would answer: “Of course God is with me! I am a Christian.” But is God identifying Himself with you to the point of visibility? Can people see and know that God is with you? This is the query we will briefly consider in this post.
Saul and David
“Thus Saul saw and knew that the Lord was with David, and that Michal, Saul’s daughter, loved him, and Saul was still more afraid of David. So Saul became David’s enemy continually” (1 Samuel 18:28, 29).
What did Saul saw in David that triggered his awareness of God’s presence? Among other things he saw that God’s protection was exhibited in David’s life. Everything he attempted to do to harm David ended up in frustration because God was telling everything to David in advance.
Another thing Saul perceived was that David was prospering steadily in spite of adverse circumstances. No matter what he had to face, he was progressing, for he was determined to walk in the fear of the Lord. Added to it, Saul descried a man refusing to avenge himself, a young man who had learned that vengeance belongs to God. Perhaps this aspect of David’s life was the main reason why the king feared him so much. He could perceive the young musician had found favor in the eyes of God. He was blessed and God’s provision and protection was with him.
Then, Saul could also see the heart of God in David. An example of it is manifested in the question David asked after Saul had died: “Is there not still someone of the house of Saul, to whom I may show the kindness of God?” (2 Sam. 9:3). After all what Saul had inflicted on him, David wanted to bless his descendents. He wanted to show them not merely the kindness of man but the kindness of God.
What about me?
Now, where do I stand in comparison? When people look at me do they see the manners of God or the manners of men? Do I exhibit the ways of God or the ways of men? Do I avenge myself or do I leave it in God’s hands? Am I resentful or merciful? Do I bless those who curse me or do I return evil for evil? The answers I give to these questions are very significant. They actually answer the initial question, which is: Is God identifying Himself with me to the point of visibility?
It is not enough to claim to be evangelicals or Christians. God wants to manifest His life through us.
The Apostle Paul
The apostle to the gentiles was also a man in whom God’s life was manifested. Here is what he writes:
… always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. 11 For we who live are always delivered to death for Jesus’ sake, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh” (2 Cor. 4:10,11).
Here are the conditions for anyone who wants to have God’s life manifested in his body, that is, in his flesh. Sometimes we hear: “I got Jesus in my heart.” But that is not sufficient. God’s wants to be substantiated in our flesh, in this part of us people can see, touch, and hear when we act, react, and interact.
Joseph
“The Lord was with Joseph, and he was a successful man; and he was in the house of his master the Egyptian. And his master saw that the Lord was with him and that the Lord made all he did to prosper in his hand” (Gen. 39:2,3).
So here again we have a man who saw something unusual. He saw that God was with a man. When Joseph was near, God’s presence was perceptible. He, as David after him, was prospering in everything he did.
The keeper of the prison did not look into anything that was under Joseph’s authority, because the Lord was with him; and whatever he did, the Lord made it prosper” (Gen. 39:23).
No circumstances and nobody were able to bring Joseph down. Even in prison he was prospering. We are not talking here about mere material prosperity. We are talking about prospering in God’s ways, in His favor and in His trust. The same is true about Paul and Silas. Even in prison they were prospering.
Isaac
Before Joseph we have Isaac: “Then Abimelech came to him from Gerar with Ahuzzath, one of his friends, and Phichol the commander of his army. And Isaac said to them, “Why have you come to me, since you hate me and have sent me away from you?” But they said, “We have certainly seen that the Lord is with you (Gen. 26: 26–28).
Isaac’s life left no room for doubts. Abimelech, Ahuzzath and Phichol were certain that God was with him, for he was a living manifestation of God’s blessings. In him was seen the substantiation of God’s care and faithfulness. Can people say to me: “We have certainly seen that the Lord is with you”?
And what about Abraham? The same Abimelech and Phichol told him: “God is with you in all that you do” (Gen. 21:22).
The challenge
Al these men and many others were shining forth the glory of God. What was their responsibility has now become ours. The grace that was upon them can be upon us, and perhaps in greater proportion.
Brethren! Let us carry about in our body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. And let us who live always be delivered to death for Jesus’ sake, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. This, and little else, is the kernel of our calling.
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