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Too often God's people can be guided only by the written Word or the prophetic word. The Bible says He wants us to move beyond that to a place marked by a greater degree of tenderness of heart toward Him and by a deeper maturity that allows Him to "guide us with His eye" (see Ps. 32:8-9).
In the kind of home in which I was raised, my mom or dad could just look at me a certain way and get the job done. If I was straying down the path of childhood foolishness, they didn't always have to say anything.
Just the look in their eyes as they glanced or glared toward me would give me the guidance that I need_ ed. Do you still need to hear a thundering voice from behind the pulpit? A biting prophetic utterance to correct your ways? Or are you able to read the emotion of God on His face? Are you tenderhearted enough that His eye can guide you and con vict your heart of sin?
When He glances your way, are you quick to say, "Oh, I can't do that. I can't go there, and I can't say that because it would displease my Father"? The glance of God convicted Peter, and to the altar music of a rooster crowing he wept his way to tenderness.
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God is everywhere, but He doesn't turn His face and His favor everywhere. That is why He tells us to seek His face. Yes, He is present with you every time you meet with other believers in a worship service, but how long has it been since your hunger caused you to crawl up in His lap, and like a child, to reach up and take the face of God to turn it toward you? Intimacy with Him! That is what God desires, and His face should be our highest focus.
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The Israelites referred to the manifest presence of God as the shekinah glory of God. When David began to talk about bringing the ark of the covenant back to Jerusalem, he wasn't interested in the gold-covered box with the artifacts inside it. He was interested in the blue flame that hovered between the outstretched wings of the cherubim on top of the ark. That is what he wanted, because there was something about the flame that signified that God Himself was present. And wherever that glory or manifested presence of God went, there was victor}' power, and blessing. Intimacy will bring about "blessing, but the pursuit of "blessing" won't always bring about intimacy.
What we cry for is a restoration of the manifested presence of God. When Moses was exposed to the glory of God, the residue of that glory caused his face to shine so much that when he came back down from the mountain, the people said, "Moses"
you must cover your face. We can't bear to look at you" (Ex 34:29-35). Whatever or whoever is exposed to the manifested presence of God begins to absorb the very material matter Of God. Can you imagine what it was like in the Holy of Holies? How much of the glory of God had been absorbed by those badger skins, the veil, and the ark itself?
The Legacy of a Place Where God Lingers
When God begins to visit in a place or among a people, unusual things start happening simply because He is there. If you don't believe me, ask Jacob.
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Look particularly at his flight from his problems. At one point, God told him to go back to Bethel, meaning "house of God," and Jacob essentially told his family members, "If we can just get back to Bethel, I'll build an altar to God and we'll be all right" (see Gen. 35•.1-3). He knew there was a lingering presence of God at Bethel.
It is interesting to read what happened when Jacob and his family made that trip to Bethel: "And they journeyed: and the terror of God was upon the cities that were round about them, and they did not pursue after the sons of Jacob" (Gen. 35:5). The Hebrew word for "terror" comes from a root word that means "to prostrate; hence to break down, either by violence, or by confusion and fear." 2 If we want the "fear of the Lord" to return to the world, then the Church must return to Bethel, the place of His manifest presence.