The God Who Is There

“I am with you, says the Lord.” (Haggai 1:13)

Throughout the Bible God proclaims His constant presence with us – Jehovah Shammah, “The God Who is there.” In Psalms 139:7-18, we are told He has been with us since before we were born and then throughout our life. Even as Psalm 23:4 puts it, “through the valley of the shadow of death,” the ‘Shepherd’ will go with us. If we stay close to Him, He will be with us and protects us in all our troubles (Psalm 91).

Hebrew 13:5 tells us that God will never, no never, no never forsake us, and in good times and bad God’s love will comfort our pain and soothe our weariness. Even as Adam and Eve tried to hide from God (Gen.3:8), we cannot hide from Him (Jer.23:24). He sees all (Jer.32:18) and knows all (Psalm 139:1-18). Jonah tried to flee from the presence of God but to no avail (Jonah 1).

Jesus promised to be with us to the end of the world (Matt.28:20), and if we have a right relationship with Him we will have the fullness of joy in His presence (Psalm 16:11), but if we don’t, we will try to get away from His presence through drugs, alcohol, sexual relations, completely absorbing ourselves in our job and anything and everything we think will remove us from God’s presence but nothing will remove us from His love (Rom. 8:38-39) – His presence is His love.

The only peace and answers we will find is in His presence, so don’t run away but run to Him. He has been there all the time.

In The Presence of Jehovah – (by Damis Carbaugh)

In and out of situations that tug of war at me,
All day long I struggle for the answers that I need.
But when I come into His presence, All my questions become clear.
And in that sacred moment, No doubts can interfere.

In the presence of Jehovah, God Almighty, Prince of Peace.
Troubles vanish, hearts are mended, In the presence of the King.

Through His love the Lord provided, a place for us to rest,
A place to find the answers in our hour of distress.
Now there's never any reason For you to give up in despair
Just slip away and breathe His name, you will surely find Him there.

In the presence of Jehovah, God Almighty, Prince of Peace.
Troubles vanish, hearts are mended, In the presence of the King.