A Price, A Promise & A Place.... Part 3: “A Place”

Exodus 33:14-21

"And he said, My presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest. And he said unto him, If thy presence go not with me, carry us not up hence. For wherein shall it be known here that I and thy people have found grace in thy sight? is it not in that thou goest with us? so shall we be separated, I and thy people, from all the people that are upon the face of the earth. And the LORD said unto Moses, I will do this thing also that thou hast spoken: for thou hast found grace in my sight, and I know thee by name.

And he said, I beseech thee, shew me thy glory. And he said, I will make all my goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name of the LORD before thee; and will be gracious to whom I will be gracious and will shew mercy on whom I will shew mercy. And he said, Thou canst not see my face: for there shall no man see me, and live. And the LORD said, Behold, there is a place by me, and thou shalt stand upon a rock."

A Promise, A Price and A Place... The Price paid makes it possible for us to abide in that Place by Him, in the Peace, Power and Protection of His Presence. God never intended for His people to have a distant relationship with Him. James 4:8 urges us to draw “near” to God. That which God spoke to Moses, He speaks to us: There is a place by me, and you will stand upon a rock.

David found that place and said of God, “Thou art my hiding place, thou shalt preserve me from trouble, thou shalt surround me with songs of deliverance”. No weapon formed against us can prosper when we make God our hiding place. Isaiah found that place and experienced a revelation of a Holy God and a lost humanity and cried out, “Here am I, send me!” In a place by God, Ezekiel had a vision of God and the scripture says: “the hand of the Lord was on him there”. On the Isle of Patmos, John found a place in God and described it with these words: “I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day”. Our relationship with God extends beyond songs, sermons and Sunday services. We can live close to God every day.

Perhaps you are going through a time of protracted trouble. Are you sick and can’t get well? Has a fractured and fragmented family left you feeling isolated and alienated? Do you have problems you can’t solve, questions you can’t answer and bills you can’t pay. Hear me today, there is a place in God. I said, there is a place in God…a place where we are strengthened with supernatural strength in our spirit. In these troubling times, how we need to be strengthened by God so we can walk with God and lead our family! This is not the hour to be casual about God. At a crucial and critical time in Jesus’ ministry it is said of Peter that he followed Jesus “afar off” (Matthew 26:58). “Afar off” is a dangerous place to be.

Regardless of how difficult the dilemma or critical the crisis, the Lord said: “Behold, there is place by me, and you shall stand upon a rock!”