John Bevere - What are You Pursing? Promise or Presence?
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If those words are ever going through your heart, what is better for me? They can actually keep you from experiencing the intimacy that you want from God and the blessings that you desire from God. Hey, everybody, welcome to lesson three of «Drawing Near: A Life of Intimacy with God.» This lesson is titled «Passion for His Presence.»
Now, in over 40 years of ministry, I have observed two major groups of Christians in the church: group number one, those who seek God for what He can do for them; and group number two, those who seek God because of who He is. This contrast is seen so beautifully between Israel and Moses. Let’s set this up. As I mentioned in an earlier lesson, Moses sees the burning bush. God then says to Moses, «I have called you to be the deliverer of Israel.»
Now, you have to realize they had been in captivity for 430 years—waiting and waiting for God to deliver them and give them the land of milk and honey that was promised to their forefather Abraham. God had Abraham walk that land hundreds of years earlier and said, «I will give this to your descendants, but they will be strangers in a foreign land for over 400 years and will be oppressed for that time.» God says to Moses, «I am about to deliver Israel, and you are going to be the deliverer.» Wow!
So, Moses gets his wife and children, and they head out to Egypt. When they get to Egypt, they first go to Goshen, where the children of Israel were staying. It was like the slum area of Egypt at that time, as the Egyptians had brutally oppressed the children of Israel. They had stripes on their backs and worked all their lives to build somebody else’s inheritance. They were eating the worst foods in the land.
Moses goes to the elders of Israel before he approaches Pharaoh and tells them, «God has appeared to me and told me that it is time for Israel to be set free from Egypt, and He has chosen me to be the deliverer. I was trained as a prince of Egypt; I know how to lead. We are going out, and God is going to do it.»
Now, think about this. Here are these elders in the room, hearing what their grandfather shared but never saw, what their father shared but lived and died without seeing, and what their great-grandfather shared but never witnessed. They were now beholding the promised deliverer. Can you imagine the mood of this room? Let me read it to you: «They were soon convinced the Lord had sent Moses and Aaron because of the signs that they did, and when they realized the Lord had seen their misery and was deeply concerned for them, they bowed their heads and worshiped.» (Exodus 4:31).
They were worshiping God! Oh my gosh, they were overwhelmed with emotion—tears, laughter, and jumping up and down. What my grandfather longed for but died without seeing, I’m actually going to walk in! Well, Moses leaves the presence of these elders and goes straight into Pharaoh’s court, bringing the exact same message to Pharaoh. What is Pharaoh’s response? Ha! He mocks Moses and God, saying, «Oh, they’re too idle; they don’t have enough to do.»
He increases their hardship. Let me explain; they had a quota of bricks they had to make for the cities Pharaoh was building. Every single day, the straw and supplies they needed to make the bricks were provided for them. Pharaoh says, «Ah, you guys are so idle; you don’t have enough to do. Now you’re going to have to go out and get your own straw. We’re not going to provide it for you anymore.»
Now, let’s paint this picture. A typical day for an Israelite involved getting up at sunrise, throwing something in their mouth to eat, going out to the brick pits to work until sunset, then coming home, trying to eat something, exhausted, collapsing only to wake up and do the same thing the next day. Now, things have changed. They have to get up about an hour before sunrise and go gather the straw so they can make the bricks. If they don’t make the same quota of bricks, they’re going to have more whips on their backs.
Oh my gosh! Moses bringing the word of God to Pharaoh increased their hardship and their misery. Do you know what these same elders do? They call judgment upon Moses, saying, «May God judge between you and us for what you have done by bringing this increased hardship upon our lives.» (Exodus 5:21).
Well, after ten plagues, God finally convinces Pharaoh to let his people go. Actually, He had hardened Pharaoh’s heart because He wanted to show His glory to Egypt and the children of Israel. Pharaoh says, «You’re going,» and when he says that, they have a massive celebration. The Egyptians are giving them their gold and silver, and there’s not one feeble among them. They’re dancing out of Egypt!
Now, what happens next? Moses leads them by the Spirit of God right up to the border of the Red Sea. They turn around and realize Pharaoh has amassed his chariots—the modern-day equivalent of tanks. He’s amassed his hordes of chariots, and they are marching on Israel to butcher them!
This is what the people said (Exodus 14:11–12): «Because there were no graves in Egypt, have you taken us away to die in this wilderness? Why have you so dealt with us to bring us up out of Egypt? Is this not the word we told you in Egypt when we called judgment on you? Let us alone that we may serve the Egyptians; for it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in this wilderness.»
Listen to those words: «It would have been better for us.» This is the motivation for Israel—what’s better for me?
Okay, are you getting this? I’ll talk about it in a moment. Alright, so God is merciful. What does He do? He splits the Red Sea; they walk across on dry ground only to get to the other side and look back, seeing Pharaoh and his armies buried beneath the Red Sea, chariots coming apart and bodies washing up on the shores. Now what happens? The entire nation goes into a jubilant celebration and sings a song—the song of Moses. Miriam grabs every woman—can you imagine about 800,000 women going out into this wide-open expanse, all dancing with tambourines, saying, «I will sing unto the Lord, for He has triumphed gloriously; the horse and rider thrown into the sea»? They are rejoicing!
Okay, what happens next? Three days later, they stop and think. They had just witnessed the Red Sea bury their oppressors from 400 years. How could they ever have doubted God? But if we go three more days after that, there’s not enough food, and there’s not enough water. Now what are they saying? «Oh, that we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt when we sat by the pots of meat and when we ate bread to the full; for you, speaking of Moses, have brought us into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.» (Exodus 16:3).
So now do you see the pattern?
Alright, what’s the pattern here? They are happy as long as God is doing what they want when they want it, and they are unhappy when God is not doing what they want when they want it. The whole basis of their belief in God, of their following Him, is what is better for me. You will see this constantly in the book of Exodus. They are always saying, «It was better for us,» «It was better for us,» «It was better for us.»
If those words are ever going through your heart—what is better for me? —they can actually keep you from experiencing the intimacy that you desire from God and the blessings that you want from God.
Now, let’s contrast them with Moses. What do we read about Moses? (Hebrews 11:24–26): «It was by faith that Moses, when he grew up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter. He chose, listen to these words, he chose to share in the oppression of God’s people instead of enjoying the fleeting pleasures of sin. He thought it was better to suffer for the sake of Christ than to own the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking ahead to his great reward.»
Now, the question we have to ask is: What is the great reward? Secondly, he chose to suffer, while Israel didn’t make a choice; they were just suffering. But Moses chose it! Because he chose this suffering, and he’s not a masochist—he’s not looking for suffering—he’s choosing a road that leads to the great reward, and that road happens to have suffering in it.
A religious person will go out and try to suffer to earn favor with God; that’s religion—don’t ever do that! A true believer will follow God’s ways, but in that way, we live in an opposing world, and we will enter suffering and persecution.
Now the question we have to ask is: What is the great reward that he’s chasing after? We find it in Exodus 33. The Lord comes to Moses in Exodus 33. He says, «Hey, go ahead and get going. Gather the people and go to the land that flows with milk and honey, the land that I promised Abraham hundreds of years ago. I want you to gather the people and go, and I’m going to send a choice angel with you, and that angel is going to drive out all the enemies—all the 'ites',» all that stuff.
But listen to what God said: «But I will not travel among you.» Oh wait a minute here. So, God is saying, «Moses, go down, get Israel, go to the promised land. I’m sending an angel, but I’m not going.» I’m glad God didn’t say this to Israel because if Israel had taken Egypt without God, I’m sure they would have taken the promised land with a choice angel; they would have had a party and moved on.
But you want to hear what Moses said? In verse 15, then Moses said to God, «If Your presence does not go with us, do not bring us up from here.»
Now stop a minute and think: Where is «here»? «Here» is the place of suffering; it’s the desert. Do you understand? I want you to think this through. A desert is not a fun place to be.
We always boast about the fact that God gave them manna, but can you imagine eating bread every single day for a year—no peanut butter, no jelly, no meat, no desserts, nothing—just bread? Can you imagine having no valleys, no streams, no lakes, and no shopping malls? You’re still wearing the same clothes that you came out of Egypt with a year ago, and it’s the only outfit you own.
Can you imagine how absolutely dull that would get? Moses said, «I would rather be under these conditions with Your presence than go to the promised land without Your presence.»
So, in essence, what he is declaring is, «I would rather have Your presence. If I have to choose, I would rather have Your presence than Your promises without Your presence.»
So, I’ll say it again clearly: «I would rather have Your presence without Your promises than Your promises without Your presence.» That is a pretty strong declaration! Israel sought God for what He could do, while Moses sought God for who He is. Their reward was a better lifestyle; Moses’s reward was the manifest presence of God.
In my experience in ministry and life, I have watched ministers succeed and grow large churches, yet they remain unfulfilled because they were chasing after a large ministry or success. I’ve seen ministers pursue success and find it; some are satisfied because their satisfaction doesn’t come from how large their ministry is; it comes from the presence of God.
I’ve seen ministers who have not had near the success that others have enjoyed, yet their walk is satisfying. Why? Because their success wasn’t based on how many people were attending their church; their success was, «Am I walking with God?» Like Enoch… It doesn’t matter how much material possession you have or how successful you are; the question becomes, «What are you pursuing?» because that is what’s most important.
Believe me, God promises success to His children, and success is viewed differently by man’s standards. But success to God is our obedience. I mean, I realize that our ministry impacts probably most of the nations in the world; it is what I’m called to do. But I know there are pastors in rural areas with 300 people in their church, and they’re caring for them.
I realize those pastors will stand on the front lines of Heaven because they’ve done what God has told them to do. If they were to compare themselves with pastors in big cities with 10,000 people in their churches, they would see themselves as failures and be discontent. But I’ve been in their churches in those little rural areas, and they’re so content because they know they’re obeying God and enjoying His presence.
I want to talk about two different presences of God because we’re really at a point in this message where it’s important for you to understand that there are two different presences that the Bible talks about. The first one is omnipresence.
Now, what is that presence? That is the presence of God that David spoke of when he said, «Where can I go from Your presence? Where can I flee from Your presence? If I go to the highest mountain, You’re there; if I make my bed in the lowest valley, You’re there.» That’s the presence of God that says, «I will never leave you nor forsake you.» That’s the omnipresence of God.
The second one I want to talk about is the manifest presence of God. This is what Jesus spoke of in John 14 when He said, «He who has My commandments and keeps them is he who loves Me; and he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him.»
Now, what does the word «manifest» mean? It means to bring from the unseen into the seen, the unheard into the heard, the unknown into the known. It is when God reveals Himself to our senses and to our minds. That presence is a very real aspect of Christianity.
So, the question I want to ask you as we close here, wrapping up this lesson, is: Are you looking for a manifestation, or are you looking for His manifest presence?
Now, there’s a big difference. Remember when Elijah went to the mountain? God passed by, and there was an earthquake. God passed by, and there was a tremendous wind causing the rocks to bang against each other. God passes by again, and there’s a fire. But Elijah isn’t looking for any of those because after all of that comes the still, small voice, and Elijah wrapped his face in his mantle and said, «Where is the Lord God of Elijah?»
In essence, Elijah was looking for that intimacy, that manifest presence. You know, I love being in my wife’s presence, but what I love most about being in her presence is our interaction and our communication with one another.
God will manifest Himself in powerful ways, and in all my travels, I’ve seen a big tragedy: people touched by God’s presence manifesting through crying, laughing, or shaking. But they now think God is found in the shaking, God is found in the laughing, God is found in the crying. That’s not true! God is found when we seek Him as a person and when we obey what He tells us to do. He manifests His presence; the manifestations are up to Him.
We can’t look for manifestations hoping to find God in them. If Elijah had done that when the earthquake came, he would have said, «There’s the Lord God!» He did pass by, but Elijah was looking for his intimate presence. This is what Moses chased after, and this is what Jesus says is available to every believer.
I have sat with pastors when we went to Vietnam and preached there in 2016. I sat with five of the top pastors of that nation. They had spent more time in jail over the previous 20 years than they had been free and were persecuted severely for their faith. I remember one of them had missing teeth; it’s tough. But when I had dinner with those five pastors before the meetings began, the joy on their faces was unspeakable! Why? Because they learned how to walk in the presence of God, and that was their reward.
So if your reward is blessing, if your reward is the promised land, if your reward is manifestations, then guess what? You’re going to be disappointed; you’re going to be an up-and-down Christian like the children of Israel—one minute they’re praising God, the next minute they’re complaining; one minute they’re praising God, the next minute they’re complaining.
But if you want His presence, let me tell you something: God promises us His manifested presence. He promises that we can live in His presence and that He will dwell in us and among us. This is what every believer should pursue: the presence of the Lord.
I hope you have created a real hunger for God’s presence. In the next lesson, we’re going to talk about how we can practically enter and abide in the presence of God. You don’t want to miss that lesson. Thank you!