The soft chimes of a bell as the door swings open and closed. The distant footsteps of people walking to nearby shops. The muted voices of a couple sitting across the charming space, and the adjacent clatter of keys on a laptop keyboard. The grumbling of a coffee grinder and the whirring of an espresso machine.
It might look like the sounds and sights of the coffee shop in which I sit, but in reality, I am in His presence. It is the beauty of worshipping the Omnipresent, Triune God: He is where I am; His presence is mine. It is the air surrounding me, the breath moving in and out of my lungs.
David wrote, “In Your presence is fullness of joy” [Psalm 16:11]. It is believed that he wrote this Psalm during one of his many periods of turmoil and distress, and yet, he could not ignore the wonder of the Divine presence.
My worst discomfort in this moment is the lack of padding on my seat and the fact that my coffee, which I’ve wanted to savor slowly, has faded to lukewarm. But yet, His presence remains as real and impenetrable in the atmosphere as ever, and it brings the fullness of joy, no matter the surroundings or circumstance.
The dictionary defines joy as an emotion, an extension of happiness. But emotions are circumstantial, and as such, our emotional experience is constantly evolving from moment to moment. And circumstances are conditional; they change based on time, place, manner, agent, etc. God’s presence (and God Himself) never changes. He is constant, and He is constant with us. If God’s presence is constant, and His presence brings joy, then that joy is also constant.
And it is not merely a pinch of joy but the fullness of joy. The Hebrew for ‘fullness’ means satiety–“enough, and more than enough, to satisfy the extremest cravings of the human heart.” It is joy that is brought by nothing but His presence, and all we must do is recognize His presence with us and rest in it, pushing away the cares and distractions of the world around us. As David expressed a couple lines prior, we must set the Lord before us–not because He isn’t there already but because we have allowed His seat to be taken.
The Greek and Hebrew words that we translate into ‘presence’ also mean a person’s face–the part turned towards someone. So in other words, the Biblical meaning of presence is not merely being in the same room, but rather, being face to face. Thus, to reside in God’s presence speaks of Him not simply being nearby but being face to face with us.
He is not only near me, with me, but He is sitting right across from me, leading me, guiding me, watching over me, comforting me, giving me peace unspeakable, rest for my soul, and the abundance of joy.
The Living One Blog 