There is nothing quite like being in the presence of God. And I’m not just talking about a feeling we get during a worship service or those goosebumps after the ensemble sings. I’m talking about simply knowing that God is near.
And when we really recognize His presence, something happens. He doesn’t just give us enough to make it through the day. He fills us. And when He fills us, there is overflow.
Moses understood how important God’s presence was. When God called him to lead the Israelites, Moses knew he couldn’t do it on his own. In Exodus 33:15, he basically tells God, “If Your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here.”
I love that because Moses wasn’t saying, “God, make the road easy.” He wasn’t asking God to remove every problem or guarantee that everything would go according to plan. He was saying, “God, whatever is ahead, I just need You to go with me.”
I think we can all relate to that.
There are plenty of things in life we don’t know how to handle. We don’t know what tomorrow will bring. We don’t always know how something is going to work out. But we can face a lot when we know we’re not facing it alone.
And God’s response to Moses is one of my favorite promises: “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.” (Exodus 33:14)
That’s overflow.
God’s presence doesn’t always change what is happening around us, but it changes what is happening inside us. When we become aware that He is right there with us, worry doesn’t seem quite as big. Fear begins to loosen its grip. We find strength we didn’t think we had. And somehow, even when everything around us feels unsettled, we can still have peace.
Have you ever been around someone like that? Someone who can be going through something really difficult, but there is still a calmness about them? You walk away thinking, “How are they doing this?” That’s overflow.
It’s not because they have everything figured out. It’s because God is filling them with something they could never produce on their own.
David said, “In Your presence there is fullness of joy.” (Psalm 16:11)
I love the word fullness. Not a little bit of joy. Not just enough joy to get us through. Fullness.
And we don’t have to be sitting in church to experience His presence. We can experience it while we’re praying, while we’re worshiping, driving down the road, sitting quietly with a cup of coffee, or right in the middle of a busy day when we simply stop and say, “Lord, I need You.”
The more time we spend with Him, the more aware we become of His presence. And the more He fills us, the more His presence begins to spill over into the way we live and the way we treat other people. Maybe that’s the part we sometimes forget. The overflow isn’t just for us.
The peace He gives us can become peace we bring into a difficult situation. The encouragement He gives us can become encouragement we offer someone else. The grace He gives us can become grace we extend to another person. The joy He puts in us can brighten somebody else’s day.
People may never know what God has been doing in your heart, but they can experience the overflow of it.
So today, don’t try to do everything on empty. Spend some time with Him. Talk to Him. Sit quietly with Him. Remind yourself that He is near.And maybe our prayer can be as simple as Moses’: “Lord, wherever I go today, I don’t want to go without You.”
Because when His presence fills us, it never stops with us. It overflows.
Shine, Shine, Shine!!!