God's Presence
During one of the prayer meetings a few weeks ago, Mike was using the passage below as a platform. I was really inspired by it. How ironic it would indeed be for the house of bread to have no bread. Similarly, how ironic it would indeed be for the house of God to have no God. We really need His Presence big time! Let's all yearn for more of His Presence in our lives!
"The bread of [Thy] presence."
Numbers 4:7 NRSV
Bread in The Old Testament symbolised God's presence. That's why Numbers 4:7 refers to "the bread of [Thy] Presence." When famine drove Naomi and her family out of Bethlehem (House of Bread), they left for the same reason people leave churches today - no bread!
Tommy Tenney writes: "Why do so many people flock to clubs and bars looking for crumbs? Because they tried the church and found only old recipes and cold ovens; there was no presence of God in the pantry.
"For some churches it's a pride thing; through tradition, they try to preserve the image of where God's been, at the expense of where He is now! They talk about what He used to do - but what about now? It's time we set aside our personal agendas and man-made games; it's time to say, 'He must increase, but I must decrease' (John 3:30).
"When people experience the presence of God it overrides human theologies and changes hearts. Why? Because someone with an experience is never at the mercy of someone with an argument. On the other hand, when people experience only a hint of God mixed with other things, it immunises them to the real thing.
"The problem isn't that God's not in the church, it's that sometimes there's not enough of Him to make the needed difference! Ezekiel said, 'I saw water coming out from under the threshold of the temple' (Ezekiel 47:1 NIV). If living water is to reach this generation, it must first flow down through the church aisles and out through us!"
"The bread of [Thy] presence."
Numbers 4:7 NRSV
Bread in The Old Testament symbolised God's presence. That's why Numbers 4:7 refers to "the bread of [Thy] Presence." When famine drove Naomi and her family out of Bethlehem (House of Bread), they left for the same reason people leave churches today - no bread!
Tommy Tenney writes: "Why do so many people flock to clubs and bars looking for crumbs? Because they tried the church and found only old recipes and cold ovens; there was no presence of God in the pantry.
"For some churches it's a pride thing; through tradition, they try to preserve the image of where God's been, at the expense of where He is now! They talk about what He used to do - but what about now? It's time we set aside our personal agendas and man-made games; it's time to say, 'He must increase, but I must decrease' (John 3:30).
"When people experience the presence of God it overrides human theologies and changes hearts. Why? Because someone with an experience is never at the mercy of someone with an argument. On the other hand, when people experience only a hint of God mixed with other things, it immunises them to the real thing.
"The problem isn't that God's not in the church, it's that sometimes there's not enough of Him to make the needed difference! Ezekiel said, 'I saw water coming out from under the threshold of the temple' (Ezekiel 47:1 NIV). If living water is to reach this generation, it must first flow down through the church aisles and out through us!"
posted by Jeff Chong at 9:36 pm
5 Comments:
Very true. It's not easy to increase God and decrease oneself when everything around us is increasing for our attention around us. What can we do in such a hectic city of us? How do we not get distracted from God?
Btw, am very impressed by your blog. Looks good.Did you do it all by yourself?
Glad that you find the blog nice. My friend, Hong Teck, designed it for me :)
thats true. we just done our Ruth bible character studies and learnt about the house of food had no food, but i never knew the bread symbolized God at that time. something interesting to know. also like the flow of living water. great post!
I believe most won't debate on the fact that when churches lack bread, people will seek it somewhere else.
Question is how do we know the bread is missing/insufficient? Membership is growing less than 10%? No miracles? People not getting "high" during P&W?
I believe the tough part is answering the question. Personally, I like Samuel's (1 Samuel 3:10) & Peter's (Matthew 14:28) approach.
Hi Felix, glad that you noted something interesting in the post :)
Hey SG, good question. How do we know when the bread is missing/insufficient? I agree with the 1 Sam & Matt passages. I suppose a very tangible gauge is our desire and inetnion in obeying the Great Commission and the Great Commandment. These are two very tangible gauge. Love God and love others...
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