Day 5

The LORD replied, “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.” Then Moses said to him, “If your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here. How will anyone know that you are pleased with me and with your people unless you go with us? What else will distinguish me and your people from all the other people on the face of the earth?”—Exodus 33:14-15

“Bend us, Lord!”—Evan Roberts, Welsh Revivalist

What distinguishes us from everyone else? Moses understood that His Presence in us, leading us, guiding us, changing us, meant all the difference. Whatever the endeavor might be, we need His Presence in it. And if we need His presence in our day-to-day walk, how much more do we need it in our corporate worship!

How often in the West the focus of worship becomes entertainment, or production, or performance! Too often the Church has focused on all the cultural trappings that attract the crowds and too little on what it takes to hear from the Spirit. It has become program based, not Presence based. The Spirit is corralled into time limits, or after-glow meetings, or altar prayers, or anything that doesn’t cause a disturbance. But shouldn’t “Disturb us, God!” be the cry of our hearts? Where is the revived heart that longs to be bent by the Spirit?

It was a great disturbance at Pentecost when the Spirit fell like tongues of fire (Acts 2:1-4). It was a great disturbance when the disciples prayed and the place was shaken as they were filled with the Spirit (Acts 4:31). Even in the one record of a service in the New Testament the unbeliever was so disturbed in his heart because of the prophetic word that falling down and worshipping he exclaimed, “God is really among you!” (1 Corinthians 14:25). Instead we pamper visitors.

Where is the prophetic word? Where is the conviction? The power? The challenge? The disturbance?

How greatly Moses understood! “If your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here.” If His Presence isn’t in the twenty minutes we worship, why do we stop? If His Presence is driven from the service, why do we even gather? What is more important than His Presence? What have we settled for?

Prayer Topics: Presence; Guidance; Witness of the Spirit; True Worship; Revived Heart; Bending in His Presence; “Disturb us, God!”