Last time we talked about seeking God’s presence before you receive His promise.   What does it look like when we choose?  Here are some examples:

In 1 Samuel 8 the children of Israel chose the God’s promises before and over God when they asked for a king just like all of the other nations. “Then all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah; 5 and they said to him, ‘Behold, you have grown old, and your sons do not walk in your ways. Now appoint a king for us to judge us like all the nations’” (1 Samuel 8:4-5).

The Hebrew’s were not asking for something sinful. They simply took a promise that God gave Israel in Deuteronomy 17.  “When you enter the land which the Lord your God gives you, and you possess it and live in it, and you say, ‘I will set a king over me like all the nations who are around me,’ you shall surely set a king over you whom the Lord your God chooses.”

But the claiming of this promise was a major slap in the face of God. Israel was simply seeking and taking a promise of God  before they were seeking the Lord. Notice the Lord told Samuel that they were rejecting the Him. “The Lord said to Samuel, ‘Listen to the voice of the people in regard to all that they say to you, for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected Me from being king over them. 1 Samuel 8:7 They were seeking God’s promises before they were seeking the Lord.

King Solomon got the order correct when he sought the heart of God, before and over God’s promises of provisions. Solomon asked for the things of God’s heart. “’So give Your servant an understanding heart to judge Your people to discern between good and evil. For who is able to judge this great people of Yours?’ It was pleasing in the sight of the Lord that Solomon had asked this thing. God said to him, ‘Because you have asked this thing and have not asked for yourself long life, nor have asked riches for yourself, nor have you asked for the life of your enemies, but have asked for yourself discernment to understand justice…’” (1 Kings 3:9-11) When Solomon sought the heart of God for God’s people, God gave Solomon the promises of provisions for a King.

Another example of getting the order right was when Israel sinned and Moses was offered choice between the promise and God’s presence. God was willing to give Israel the Promised Land unconditionally. But, He was not going to go with them into the land because of their sinful rebellion. They could have had the promise without risk. They could go in and do their own thing. But, if God went with them, there was a threat of destruction from their disobedience.

“Then the Lord spoke to Moses, “‘Depart, go up from here, you and the people whom you have brought up from the land of Egypt, to the land of which I swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, saying, ‘To your descendants I will give it.’ I will send an angel before you and I will drive out the Canaanite, the Amorite, the Hittite, the Perizzite, the Hivite and the Jebusite. Go up to a land flowing with milk and honey; for I will not go up in your midst, because you are an obstinate people, and I might destroy you on the way.’” (Exodus 33:1-3).

Moses declared that it is not the promise that differentiates God’s people from the world, but it is the presence of God that makes us different. “Then he said to Him, ‘If Your presence does not go with us, do not lead us up from here. For how then can it be known that I have found favor in Your sight, I and Your people? Is it not by Your going with us, so that we, I and Your people, may be distinguished from all the other people who are upon the face of the earth?’” (Exodus 33:15-16) Moses wanted the Lord’s presence over God’s promises of provisions.

The question is, “Can I have both God’s presence and God’s promises?” The answer is, “Yes, but not in the beginning.” The key to receiving the presence before the promise is intimacy with God.

“Now Moses used to take the tent and pitch it outside the camp, a good distance from the camp, and he called it the tent of meeting. And everyone who sought the Lord would go out to the tent of meeting which was outside the camp. And it came about, whenever Moses went out to the tent, that all the people would arise and stand, each at the entrance of his tent, and gaze after Moses until he entered the tent. Whenever Moses entered the tent, the pillar of cloud would descend and stand at the entrance of the tent; and the Lord would speak with Moses. When all the people saw the pillar of cloud standing at the entrance of the tent, all the people would arise and worship, each at the entrance of his tent. Thus the Lord used to speak to Moses face to face, just as a man speaks to his friend. When Moses returned to the camp, his servant Joshua, the son of Nun, a young man, would not depart from the tent.” Exodus 33:7-11

Everyone had the opportunity to seek the Lord, but Moses would continually go into the Tent of Meeting to talk with the Lord face to face.  It’s not the promise that brings the provision.  It’s the presence of God.

Can you think of examples in your life where you focused on the presence or promise of God?

In which order did you seek Him?

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