The Invisible Accompanying Presence of Christ
Walking the 3 miles from our house to Al’s Formal wear seemed like the best option.I needed to return my son’s tux from the high school prom and I needed time to process the present situation and clear my head.
Walking the 3 miles from our house to Al’s Formal wear seemed like the best option.I needed to return my son’s tux from the high school prom and I needed time to process the present situation and clear my head.
Without exaggerating into extreme drama, the hour or so before I left on this tux return errand I was wondering if I would make it. Life’s events, circumstances beyond our control, seemed too overwhelming. The emotions that followed created in me a sense of hopelessness. My own resources to cope were gone. None of the usual strategies to make life work were working. There was nothing left. I felt like I was bottoming out.
As I sat there in our bedroom, I strongly sensed I was at an intersection. I could totally crater and flip out, literally lose contact with reality or …earlier that morning I read Psalm 16. Verse 8 came back into my mind – “I have set the Lord continually before me; because He is at my right hand, I will not be shaken.”
I left my house carrying the tux in the plastic bag over my shoulder; walked down the street; turned the corner and started up the hill on my errand.
All the way to the rental store, step by step, I kept saying the words of Psalms 16:8 over and over in my head –“because He is at my right hand, I will not be shaken; I will not be shaken – because He is at my right hand; I will not be shaken” over and over; step by step.
All the way there and all the way back, I started thinking about Jesus being present right there with me as I walked. It was what the Psalm said. I started remembering what He promised in other places in scripture– “I will never leave you or forsake you…never, ever, ever.”
He was present- at my right hand. I started thinking about his being there on my right side, walking with me. His grace was pouring over me. His Presence was the protection would keep me from being shaken – not my strategies to make life work, not my own resources. He was the One who would make the difference right there in that moment and all the moments forward.
In those moments the truths of God’s word literally were lighting my path as the Psalmist tells us and informing my thinking. As I focused on those truths and the reality of the Lord’s Presence with me, His promise washed over me.
I returned home with a sense that I would make it. The circumstances had not changed and reality was still reality, but within my soul a shift had begun and a sense of hope that the Presence of Christ was the reality I needed to focus on – not the circumstances. He was present. He would be present.
Just like those who have gone before us whom we read about in Hebrews and specifically in 11:27 “…by faith he left Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the King; for he endured as seeing Him who is unseen.” An insight into enduring the realities of difficulty in this life has to do with who and what we are focusing on – the overwhelming circumstances, ourselves and our resources OR the Presence of the Risen Christ?
Paul explains in II Corinthians 3:16-18 “therefore we do not lose heart…for momentary affliction is producing in us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison; while we look not at the things that are seen…but the things which are not seen are eternal.”
The most incredible part is that the truths of Psalm 16:8 are still relevant right now for me and for you. The Presence of Christ is more real than the harsh realities of our circumstances. He is just waiting for our focus to shift and our eyes to see Him. Will you?
Gail Seidel
Gail Seidel served as Mentor Advisor for Spiritual Formation in the Department of Spiritual Formation and Leadership at Dallas Theological Seminary (DTS) and as an Adjunct Professor in the D Min in Spiritual Formation in the D Min Department at Dallas Theological Seminary. She has a BA in English from the University of Texas, a Masters in Christian Education from Dallas Seminary and a D Min in Spiritual Formation from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. She is a contributor to the textbook, Foundations of Spiritual Formation, Kregel Academic. She served as co-director for Christian Women in Partnership Russia with Entrust, an international church leadership-training mission. She and her husband Andy live in Fredericksburg, Texas. They have 2 married children and 6 wonderful grandchildren--Kami, Kourtney, Katie, Mallory, Grayson, and Avery.
2 Comments
SonShine
“walking”
Gail, as I was reading this post I began to do some musing. On your “walk” you meditated upon the verse from Psalms, but also God was teaching you a vital important lesson that we all need to grab. It is this: As we walk we are learning how to walk “with” God as Noah and Enoch did, walk “before” God as He told Abraham to do, we can walk “after” God thus following Him as Jesus told the disciples “come follow Me”, or we can walk “beside” God as the disciples did with Jesus on the road to Emmaus. God takes us through valleys, foothills, mountains, climbing over rocks and crossing streams so that we may value His presence with us just as you learned today on your “walk”. The one key element is the He wants us to learn is found in Prov 8:20 “walk in the path of righteousness” . Walking with, before, after and beside Him helps us to mirror Him as we face the circumstances of life.
Thanks for sharing and glad you are gleaning that key principle as you “walk” so we too might consider the lessons you learned.
Gail Seidel
Thanks Gaye
Yes, that first lesson was a number or years ago and just recently I found again the Psalm 16:8 was a strong reminder that the Presence of Christ IS the solid anchor in the midst of the storms of pain/relational conflict/ confusing events and crises. Thank God that He IS present.I'm still learning!!