The God Who Saves is the God Who Stays
"And they shall know that I am the Lord their God, who brought them forth out of the land of Egypt that I might dwell among them" (Exodus 29:46).
Read: Ex. 29:44-46; Gen. 28:15; Isa. 43:2; Matt. 28:20.
What Is God Saying?
The Tent of Meeting had special significance to the people making their way through what must have seemed an endless journey. The environment was bleak and hostile. There were enemies before them, around them, and behind them who would have been very glad to see them erased from the face of the earth. The Promised Land had an annoying habit of getting farther and farther away. God knew they needed the encouragement of His presence. He delivered them from the land of bondage. They needed to know that the One who had delivered them once would not only keep on delivering them but wanted to stay with them always. It was the kind of assurance the Christian receives when Jesus says, "Lo! I am with you always to the close of the age."
How Does This Apply To Us?
Think of ways we have been delivered and ways we are being delivered. Then rejoice that the same One who saved us in the past is with us in the present. The Exodus may seem long ago and far away. It doesn't come up in our office conversations and is hardly a topic for discussion on Bowling League nights, but the reality of God's deliverance from the bondage of sin and our need for His constant nearness in our striving against the Adversary is as real as the pedestrian cross-walk light at the next corner. God's deliverance is that real and His continued presence is just as real. God's deliverance from fear as well as His presence for comfort and strength is always available, always willing, always able. That double awareness of One who saves and also stays should encourage us to stay in touch, which we do in prayer.
Pray With Me
Lord, You are a God who can deliver us and a God who desires to dwell with us. I will rest in this thought today. I may be straining beneath the load of this day. I may be wrestling with the problems of this day. I may be bracing myself for the challenges of this day. Yet I may also rest in the great assurance that "He who can deliver desires to remain."
Deliver me, 0 God, from the weight of past failures. Dwell with me in the present that I may be free of all that enslaves and defiles.
Deliver me, 0 God, from seeking to avenge my injuries in order to feed my pride. Dwell with me that I may accept in quiet faith all that comes as part of Your pattern for ultimate good.
Deliver me, 0 God, from indifference toward the needs of others. Dwell with me that I may have Your spirit of love and care toward those who are hurt and hungry and homeless.
Deliver me, 0 God, from encircling doubt. Dwell with me until the light of Your truth and the warmth of Your love dissolve all doubt.
Deliver me, 0 God, from the torments of fear and the troubled seas of worry. Dwell with me as Lord above all tempests. Your voice can check the fury of the wind and turn wild waves into mirror calm. Then, being delivered, I shall help to deliver. Knowing Your presence, I shall share with effortless grace the very love and peace of God.
Through Jesus Christ, my Lord. Amen.
Moving On In The Life Of Prayer
Let us not be delivered from something we dread without being committed to something ( or Someone) we love. Keep on praying. God will keep on saving and God will keep on staying.
• Prayer is the channel through which we are repeatedly assured that He has saved us from the past to be of use in the present.
• Prayer is the way we are assured that the One who is with us in the present will continue to be with us through all our unknown tomorrows until the Land that has been promised is the Land that has been reached.
