Sometimes in life we chase a specific goal or dream so hard that we forget why we ever started chasing. There are moments, maybe even seasons in which we are overcome by determination for a prize that we start to overlook the path that leads to the anticipated outcome. There is something wonderful about focused determination but I believe we have to always be conscious of the purpose of our desire, the reason that we are driven, the promise that started the process or at least the calling that began the journey. It is a healthy thing to stop from time to time and to search our hearts and be sure that we have continued to seek and chase after God and not replaced our worship of Him with a drive to fulfill His promises in our lives.
There is a scene in the book of Exodus that has always baffled me. Moses was called up to the mountain to meet with God, to receive the law and all of God’s instructions for His people, the Bible says that he was with God on the mountain for 40 days. At some point during that time the people gathered together and decided that Moses might never come back and so they had to do something. The interesting thing to me is that they did not replace Moses, they replaced God. Moses was their link to God, so if Moses was absent then they assumed that God was absent as well. They had never appreciated or even realized God’s presence in their own lives, they had only viewed it from a far through Moses’ life. Moses was absent, so God was absent as well, that was what they believed.
The people of Israel went to Aaron, Moses’ brother, and the high priest and said “Make us gods that shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.” In the span of nearly 40 days Israel had replaced God in their hearts; as the saying goes, “out of sight, out of mind.” The part that is telling is that believed they needed “gods that shall go before us”. They were still concerned with the promise of God, even though they were willing to replace God Himself. Their attention was not on God but on “a land flowing with milk and honey”. They had not understood that the “promised land” was a gift that would flow from relationship with God, they had believed that the land, the promise, the outcome was where they had to focus their attention, their affection and their efforts. I believe that they got tired of standing still and waiting for Moses and God. They came to a conclusion that we will never get to where we want to be by standing still and so they were ready to move. “God helps those that help themselves”, right? You have to do something at some point, don’t you? How long should we wait before we take action?
You may be familiar with the rest of the story; just in case you are not I will give a brief synopsis. Aaron took gold from the people and formed it into a golden calf. He then set the idol before Israel and they had a celebration where they danced and sang, “This is your god, O Israel, that brought you out of the land of Egypt.” God saw what was happening and sent Moses down from the mountain to deal with the people. God told Moses that He was going to destroy Israel and start over with him and start a new nation. Moses was not flattered by this opportunity, he interceded, he pleaded with God not to do this thing but to keep His promises to Abraham, Isaac and Israel. God heard Moses; He received His intercession and said He would not destroy Israel. Moses came down from the mountain and found the people still celebrating this new god. He became enraged, he threw down the tablets of stone that God had written His law on, breaking them into pieces, then he took the golden calf and burned it, then ground it to dust, put it in water and made the Israelites drink it.
The next day Moses went back to the presence of God and pleaded with God to forgive the people. Remember, Moses did not take part in this sin, but he was so concerned with the people, he was so full of mercy and the heart of God that he actually prayed, “If You will forgive their sin—but if not, I pray, blot me out of Your book which You have written.” Moses did not plead for his own good but for the good, the mercy and the forgiveness of others. This is the heart of intercession, the heart of true leadership and I believe, the heart of one that has been with God. God then tells Moses, “Go, lead the people to the place of which I have spoken to you. Behold, My Angel shall go before you.”
I would imagine that to many people, myself included, these words from God would have been music to our ears. A giant sigh of relief to find out that God was not going to remove the promise from our lives. I know a lot of people that live in fear of sinning to the point of having God remove a calling, a promise or a dream from them. We seem to almost be obsessed with destiny so much that we have missed out on what our destiny actually is. Moses understood something that I need to grasp more firmly. Moses returned to God and said, “If Your Presence does not go with us, do not bring us up from here.” Moses wanted God’s presence more than he wanted the Promised Land. Moses was willing to live in the middle of nowhere as long as God lived there with him, but he would not move to a better spot if it meant God was not going with them. I’m not sure when it happened, but Moses was much more interested in being with God than He was with fulfilling his destiny. I believe what he understood was that his purpose could only come to pass if he lived his life in God’s presence and that his destiny was not leading Israel to a distant land but leading them to lives lived in the presence of God. Our destiny is not the fulfillment of a specific assignment; it is to be found in a surrendered love relationship with Jesus.
What are you chasing after today? If your life came down to one thing would you long for your “Promised Land” or God’s presence? You may argue that you cannot have one without the other, that may be true, but I will tell you this, God’s presence is not found in the fulfillment of dreams and promises, it is found by those that diligently seek him, with all of their hearts. David, one of the greatest men the earth had ever seen, King of Israel, great warrior, man of wealth and honor wrote, “One thing I have desired of the LORD, that will I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life”. “The house of the LORD” means God’s presence. David had wealth, honor, respect, everything that the human heart longs for. David had seen the fulfillment of God’s promises, He had experienced God’s provision, protection and purpose, in the midst of it He was not satisfied with what God had done, He longed for God’s presence. I believe we are currently experiencing an epidemic of people chasing promises but neglecting God’s presence. I know that I have fallen into this trap. Our flesh and the enemy of our souls convince us that to chase your destiny is the same as chasing after God, it is not! If you and I will hunger and thirst for God then we will be filled with Him, with His presence and then He will fulfill His purpose for our lives. I believe that God is faithful and that He fulfills everything that He promises, but the path to that fulfillment is in His presence.
I recently heard Mike Bickle say that establishing a 24 hour a day house of prayer and worship was not his dream, it was his assignment. He said that his dream was and continues to be to live in an anointing that continually connects his heart to the heart of God. What are you dreaming of today? What are you striving for? What are you chasing after? If it is a dream, a purpose, a plan or a promise then your longing may be misplaced. Moses wanted the Promised Land, he wanted to see the fulfillment of the journey, but he wanted to be in God’s presence more. The amazing thing about all of this is that the way to get to your purpose is to dwell in God’s presence. The way to walk in the fulfillment of promises is to seek God and God alone. To go back to David’s words in Psalm 27, if you and I will long for “One thing” we will receive everything. If we will seek God and His face, then not only will we dwell in His presence, but from His presence everything that God has ever purposed, ever planned, ever dreamed and ever promised will all come to pass. Today I encourage you to consider what you are chasing and if it is anything other than God Himself, stop the chase and sit with God, sing His praises, listen to His voice and drink deep of His presence. In His presence is fullness, not only of joy, but of everything that He has chosen to pour out.