The Manifest Presence of God

Daily Reading: Genesis 12; Luke 5

When Simon Peter realized what had happened, he fell to his knees 

before Jesus and said, “Oh, Lord, please leave me—I’m too much of a sinner to 

be around you.” Luke 5:8

Something happens when the seeker comes face-to-face with the manifest presence of God––complete and total collapse! Look at the words of the prophet Isaiah. 

Then I said, “It’s all over! I am doomed, for I am a sinful man. I have filthy lips, and I 

live among a people with filthy lips. Yet I have seen the King, the Lord of 

Heaven’s Armies (Isaiah 6:5).”

Or how about John,

“When I saw him, I fell at his feet as if I were dead (Revelation 1:17).”

Whenever humanity comes face-to-face with the Divine the complete depth of our sinful nature hits us in the face like a baseball bat! We are gripped with fear, despair and utter dread at the incongruity of our sin to God’s holiness. The darkness of our sinful nature is exposed to the total brightness of God’s radiant holiness.

I think this is just where God wants to take us. God wants us to experience the depth of our sin because God wants us to experience the heights of his grace. Its at this place of despair that the seeker finally gets to the place of repentance and surrender to the will of God. The good news is that God does not want us to stay in this state of desperation and fear, he wants us to experience the true power of his gift of supreme love. 

Following each of the above verses is a similar progression; forgiveness, cleansing grace, and mission. Go back and read the passages, Isaiah has his lips touched with the burning coal, has forgiveness pronounced over him and is then given the mission of being God’s voice to the nation of Israel (Isaiah 6:6-8). John has the hand of God touch him and then is called to watch and write down all that he sees (Revelation 1:17-19). Simon and his friends James and John are accepted by Christ and then given the great call to be fishers for people (Luke 5:10)! It brings me joy to see that within each of these encounters with God’s presence the three men are given different invitations for service. God too has ministries for each of us as we surrender ourselves to him.

As frightening as it sounds my wish for each of us is that the radiance of God’s holiness will so fill our lives that we will no longer desire to live within the darkness of our sin. It is here that we will be able to continue to the next stage of our mission for God.

Lord God, bring your manifest presence into our lives and give us new vision for your great mission. Amen.