Living Out Life in His Presence

I love reading through the Bible in a new translation. Familiar passages leap off the page when presented in a new "language". My current read-through utilizes the NET Bible, a translator's Bible that gives tons of alternate renderings for words and explains the choices made by the translation team.

In Gen. 17 yesterday I read the familiar covenantal condition to Abram: "Walk before me...". The translator's note clarifies the sense of the phrase in Hebrew: "Live out your life in My presence".

WOW. Understanding that makes the second half of the condition more understandable: "and be blameless." One possible way of understanding the connection is that walking before God - living all of life in His presence - has the purpose or result of the individual being blameless, or righteous.

Unfortunately this principle has been taught in some ways that generate fear and legalism. "God is watching, so you'd better be good" is the message we get. Like "Santa Claus is Coming to Town", we think that we'd "better watch out, better not shout" because "He knows when you've been bad or good" and of course, what's in our stocking depends on being good!

But becoming more aware of His presence in the minutae of life has to do with more than our sanctification. This covenant is immediately followed by God appearing to Abraham with two angels in Gen. 18. This chapter illustrates what it means to walk before God. Living life in His presence looks like this: worship, interaction, giving, receiving, interceding. It's relational, not legalistic. It's faith, not fear.

So my prayer this week is that I will consistently live out my life in God's presence - becoming increasingly aware of His presence in the minutae of life. I want to know Him more so, like Abraham, I can intercede better. I want to know that I can trust His no's, like Abram did when He gave him an emphatic "no" about Ishmael. I want to see Him come through time after time after time, year after year after year. I want to know that the blamelessness is because of His change in me, not because of my fear or legalism. And I want to interact with Him in intimacy and relationship and constant dialogue.

I know you do as well. So tonight, this is my prayer for you: That you will increasingly live out your life in His presence. And that together we will learn just what that means!