Its been said that the work-from-home mentality that has been a hallmark of the coronavirus era is slowly fading away, as unsupervised, voluntary commitment is almost impossible. Our lives should be lived with the idea of 'coram deo,' or 'before God,' but the problem is that there are many times when we try to run and hide from God. So today, lets think about the kind of person who never leaves Gods presence.
First, the person who sees his sins.
Northern Israel was destroyed and only Judah remained, and salvation is more than a cause-and-effect game of 'Judah is good, Northern Israel is bad.' Salvation is Gods will, the intersection of His justice and love. God waited, giving a 137-year grace period, but Judah followed Israels sinful ways, and God repeatedly explains why they were doomed. He explains that Israel was divided in two because of Solomons fall, that Jeroboams worship of the golden calf caused the whole nation to fall into great sin, and that the root cause was in the house of David. So, you cant blame and point fingers and say, 'I didnt do anything wrong, but youre the reason Im going through all this trouble, bite me!' So how should we as believers apply this in our lives? If you are a believer and an unbeliever, the believer is unconditionally at fault, and if you are an unbeliever, the believer is unconditionally at fault. Therefore, if you have faith, the only thing you can do is always repent. Not admitting your sin is not listening to the Word, and not listening to the Word is leaving God. God is like our mirror, and when we stand in front of it, we see ourselves. You have to recognize that what you see in the mirror is what you are, and you have to stay in front of the mirror and keep wiping your face. The one who does not depart from God, the one who stays in front of him, is above all the one who sees his sins, the one who repents, the one who turns and lives.
Second, a God-fearing person.
When the Assyrians settled in the land of Israel, a pride of lions appeared and attacked and killed people (25). The Bible says the reason was 'because they did not fear the LORD,' because the Assyrians 'did not know the laws of the god of the land. We make a big deal about whether we 'took the land' or not, but what really matters in our lives is whether we 'fear God' or not. A life lived apart from God is a life lived in fear and pain. When we run to God, our eternal refuge, we can move past fear and pain and be safe. Staying in community is the secret to our stability. The real fear is, 'Im afraid Ill leave God. When we love God, we fear God, and as much as we fear God, we dont fear the world. On the other hand, God uses fear to train us. The fearful events I encounter in this world are signs that tell me I dont fully love and fear God. If something scares you today, consider how far you are from God and run to Him and hide.
Third, a person who worships in spirit and truth.
To solve the problem of lion attacks, a captive Samaritan priest is sent to Bethel to teach, but it makes no sense to teach because the fear of the Lord is not a matter of knowledge that can be imitated, but a matter of values, a matter of faith.
About 750 years later, in John 4, we find the historic conversation between Jesus and a Samaritan woman at a well in the province of Samaria. Surprised by Jesus knowledge of her complicated past, she asks him about worship. He tells her about true worship, saying, 'God is a spirit, and he who worships him must worship in spirit and truth. Like the Samaritan woman, even a broken life with much shame and pain to hide can become a holy worshiper when we come to God with tribulation as our theme, the Holy Spirit as our teacher, and the Bible as our textbook. These words that we confess at the beginning of every worship service are a confession that says, 'I am a sinner who cannot worship God, but I rely on the Holy Spirit to worship according to the Word!' This should be confessed in every worship service and gathering, and in every work in the home, school, society, and nation. Wherever you are and whatever you do, if you do it with a heart to serve and worship God in spirit and truth, that is the holy worship that God receives, and the one who worships in this way is the one who never departs from Gods presence.
We live in fear and suffering, taking and taking away from the earth. But we should know that it is only by fearing God that we will gain eternal inheritance, so may we worship in spirit and truth and demonstrate a Jesus-fearing attitude in every area of our lives with values that never depart from God.
