Come into His Presence

I awaken early one morning, and I slowly make my way out from my bedroom to sit at my dining room table, where I plan to have my morning devotion. As I sit with bible in hand, my mind is already becoming preoccupied with cares, concerns and fears that begin to creep into my mind. I want to be captivated by the majesty of God.

I need to be captivated by his glory. My thoughts race about the events of the day and the events of days even yet to come. I feel overwhelmed by worry, but what I want is to be overwhelmed by my Savior, by His glory, by His might, by His peace.

I open my bible and turn to the next Psalm in my reading plan. I pray, as I have so often before, for God’s Spirit to open my eyes to help me see wonderful things for his Word; to incline my heart to His testimonies; to unite my heart to fear His name. I turn to Psalm 95 I read it, as I have this time of year every year for the past several years, but for the first time that I can remember I am captivated by verse 4.

“In his hands are the depths of the earth”

“In his hands are the depths of the earth”. Wow! I sit there and I contemplate the might, majesty and magnitude of these words. No wonder the psalmist invites us to worship, to sing, to rejoice. God’s hands are in the depths of the earth. Can you see it? His is so grand and glorious that his very hands sink into the depths of the world. His very presence digs deep into the darkest places of his creation. There is nothing hidden from his sight. There is nothing he cannot see. There is nowhere I can flee that He cannot find me [Psalm 139:7].

He digs deep into the depths of the earth, and His Spirit uses these words to dig deep into the depths of my heart. As I meditate upon the character of God with those eight powerful words, I am drawn into worship, and rather than simply read the rest of the Psalm, I reflect, and I renew my mind with the truth about God’s character.

I am humbled by how majestic God really is and how little I really am. How glorious He really is and how regular and un-majestic I really am. How powerful he really is, and how weak I really am. Suddenly whatever cares, concerns, worries or fears I have seem so pale in comparison to the One whose hands dig deep into the earth.

As I read further in verse 7, I am comforted and assured by these next few words. “For he is our God, and we are the people of his pasture and the sheep of his hand.’ He is MY God. I am one of HIS sheep. Lead by HIS hand. He is my God, because I am one His sheep. Brought into the sheepfold by the Good Shepherd. Loved by the Good Shepherd who gave up His life for me [John 10:11]. Lead by the Good Shepherd who was tempted in every way that I am to be afraid and to worry – yet without sin [Hebrews 4:15]. I am assured that the Good Shepherd, having walked in my shoes, is sympathetic to my cares and bids me to boldly approach throne of God in times of my need for mercy and grace [Hebrews 4:16].

Yes. He is my God and I am His precious little sheep. He does lead me [Psalm 23:2]. He will care for me [Matthew 11:28]. There is nothing to fear. His hands dig deep into the depths of the earth and they uphold me. As I reflect, I rejoice in the hope that He is my God and I am His sheep. I know him. He knows me. I am His. He is mine.

My cares begin to fade because my mind, my heart, my affections have now shifted away from me and have been placed squarely upon the Lord. Now I see why the psalmist rejoices. He sees the greatness of God. He sees the one who hands sink deep into the depths of the earth, and he rejoices in the greatness of God. His joy is contagious, and I am compelled to join him in worship.

I continue reading Psalm 96 and then Psalm 97, and I again am struck with the majesty of God in verse 5.

“The mountains melt like wax before the Lord, before the Lord of all the earth”

The mountains melt before the Lord like wax! What majesty! The mountains melt. I sit, and I reflect.

Mountains stand glorious. Beautifully erected above the landscape; mightily taunting and teasing humanity to try and conquer them. Think of all the hours, days, weeks, months and years spent by people trying to conquer the highest of mountains, Mount Everest. Frozen bodies riddle the mountainside as reminders to the might of the mountain. Yet the psalmist reminds me, that even Mount Everest melts like wax before the Lord. Even Mount Everest bows down and is humbled by the might of its Creator.

There is nothing grander, greater than the Lord. Even creation bows down before the Lord, and the mountains melt like wax and my heart melts along with them as I am humbled by the majesty of God. I continue to read Psalm 98 and 99 and I worship right along with psalmist who invites me to join him along the way. My heart is bowed down. It is melted before the Lord.

Suddenly, everything that seemed so overwhelming pales in comparison to the One who sits on His throne and is to be feared above all gods. Everything that fought for my attention suddenly seems so unworthy of another empty moment spent worrying about what already sits in the palms of the hands of my God. My heart melts like wax, and I am comforted by my sympathetic Savior who knows me, leads me and assures me that I can cast all of my cares before Him because he loves me [1Peter 5:7].

Perhaps like me many of you (all of you?) reading this, struggle from time to time with being overwhelmed with the cares of this world. When you are, lift up your eyes to the heavens and reflect upon the One who is worthy to be loved with all of your heart and mind. Lift up your eyes to see the One whose hands dig deep into the earth. Lift up your eyes and gaze upon his Son who sits at his right hand longing to make intercession for you, and then boldly come into His presence with thanksgiving and praise [Hebrews 4:16 with Philippians 4:6, 7].

Scott Denny is one of our Pastors here at Grace Bible Church