The Glory of God Has Departed

"Then the glory of the Lord departed from off the threshold of the house, and stood over the cherubims" (Ezekiel 10:18)

The world is evil, the times are waxing late, and the glory of God has departed from the Church as the fiery cloud once lifted from the door of the Temple in the sight of Ezekiel the prophet.

The God of Abraham has withdrawn His conscious Presence from us, and another god whom our fathers knew not is making himself at home among us. This god we have made and because we have made him we can understand him; because we have created him he can never surprise us, never overwhelm us, nor astonish us, nor transcend us.

The God of glory sometimes revealed Himself like a sun to warm and bless, indeed, but often to astonish, overwhelm, and blind before He healed and bestowed permanent sight. This God of our fathers wills to be the God  of their succeeding race. We have only to prepare Him a habitation in love and faith and humility. We have but to want Him badly enough, and He will come and manifest Himself to us.

Come once again in all Your glory, great God. We've lost so much in losing Your presence among us. Come once more and manifest Yourself clearly to us. Amen

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The Seeking Heart Finds God

"And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart" (Jeremiah 29:13)

God being who He is must have obedience from His creatures. man being who he is must render that obedience. And he owes God complete obedience whether or not he feels for Him the faintest trace of love in his heart. It is a question of the sovereign right of God to require His creatures to obey Him. Man's first and basic sin was disobedience. When he disobeyed God he violated the claims of divine love with the result that love for God died within him. Now, what can he do to restore that love to his heart again? The answer to that question is given in one word: Repent.

The heart that mourns its coldness toward God needs only to repent its sins, and a new, warm and satisfying love will flood into it. For the act of repentance will bring a corresponding act of God in self-revelation and intimate communion. Once the seeking heart finds God in personal experience there will be no further problem about loving Him. To know Him is to love Him and to know Him better is to love Him more.

Lord, I mourn my coldness toward You and repent, that I may enter into a loving, intimate relationship with You. Amen

~A. W. Tozer~