Cast me not away from thy presence

Cast me not away from thy presence; And take not thy holy spirit from me (Psalm 51:11 KJV)

David prayed earnestly that God would not cast him away from His presence. This verse is full of mysteries which cannot be condensed in a brief devotional. However, let me touch on a few important ones.

David committed adultery and knew God’s judgment for sin was coming. His prayer above revealed his deepest fears. He was afraid of being kicked out of God’s presence. He had experienced the presence of God in the Tabernacle through the Ark of the Covenant. Similarly, he had most likely known the presence of God to some degree at a personal level. Furthermore, he knew it was a possibility for someone to be cast away from God’s presence. He had seen Saul cast away as God took His Spirit from Him.

Kathryn Khulman always spoke about her deepest fear of “losing the presence of God.” Once you have known the presence of God and had a glimpse of the glory of living in that presence, life becomes worthless without it.

God brings us into His presence by default at salvation. His presence is the Holy Spirit that comes into our hearts when we believe in Christ. We then grow into the practical experience of that presence through a life of fellowship and consecration. Though God does not cast us away from His presence today in Christ as He did in the Old Testament because of Grace, we can lose the practical experience of this presence by a life of sin or lack of consecration.

MEDITATE

Does God cast you and me today from His presence by taking away His Spirit when we sin? Did God cast you away from His presence the last time you sinned? Why not?

APPLY THE WORD

The treasure of Christianity is fellowship with God. It should be your utmost desire. You will never understand from a practical perspective why David was so afraid of being cast from God’s presence until you have experienced living in practical fellowship with God. Yearn to know the presence of God.