God’s Awe-Inspiring Presence

Isaiah 40:10

See, the Lord GOD comes with strength, and His power establishes His rule. His reward is with Him, and His gifts accompany Him.

Revelation 22:12

“Look! I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me to repay each person according to what he has done.”

True success, which is God’s reward, comes with His presence. Please understand this foundational principle of our faith: Prosperity without the presence of God has the power to destroy you! Moses understood this principle well from his personal encounters with Yaweh. When the children of Israel grieved God in the wilderness, He gave them an offer to take the Promised Land without Him. Moses, however, would not move ahead without God, according to Exodus 33:15.

Now read verse 16 carefully to see the reason Moses would not move ahead of God to take the promise:

How will it be known that I and Your people have found favor in Your sight unless You go with us? I and Your people will be distinguished by this from all the other people on the face of the earth.

Jehoshaphat understood that true success comes from God. In addition to building a strong military defense for the nation, Jehoshaphat commissioned his very best men to teach the people the word of God so they would know the power of God’s presence. By teaching them the book of instruction, he created a spiritual defense for the people which would keep them from succumbing to the temptation of seeking prosperity on their own terms without God, as the northern kingdom had done. The result of Jehoshaphat’s educational system is found in 2 Chronicles 17:10:

The terror of the LORD was on all the kingdoms of the lands that surrounded Judah, so they didn’t fight against Jehoshaphat.

God’s presence dwelt with Judah and Jehoshaphat because they sought Him. The nation’s strong military defense and apparent spiritual defense cast the fear of God upon the surrounding nations as they recognized something different about them – something supernatural that claimed the nation as special and blessed by an Almighty God who ruled in their favor. Enemy nations dared not attack what they knew would destroy them!

Look back at Moses for a moment to see how his plea for God’s presence to follow the nation of Israel into the Promised Land progressed. God honored Moses’s request and cut a covenant with Him. Exodus 34:10 records the promise of this covenant:

And the LORD responded: “Look, I am making a covenant. I will perform wonders in the presence of all your people that have never been done in all the earth or in any nation. All the people you live among will see the LORD’s work, for what I am doing with you is awe-inspiring.

With God’s presence comes a reward that is so great it is awe-inspiring! Note Merriam Webster’s definition of awe:

An emotion variously combining dread, veneration, and wonder that is inspired by authority or by the sacred or sublime.

Awe is the term to which we most commonly refer as “the fear of God.” When people can see God at work in our lives and not our own flesh, we have been blessed with true success! The work God wants to do in my life and in yours is nothing less than awe-inspiring, but His presence must go with us! If we try to move into His promise for us in our own flesh or our own strength, a greater flesh will seek to destroy it. If we are moving forward in the power and presence of Almighty God, however, no demon in hell can stop it because of the reverential fear that accompanies us! We are most certainly distinguishable from the other people and nations around us when we operate in the presence of God!

Determine to seek the presence of God daily and not tempted by the desire of the flesh to move ahead of Him. God is doing an awe-inspiring work in you, and you want every bit of Him – not the thing He promises – to be your focus. His reward is with Him, and when you have Him, you have it all!

Have a blessed day!