Rabbi Schneider - How to Know God Now
One of my favorite verses in the Psalms comes from Psalm 27:13. Hear the Word of God, David is speaking here, and David is an example of all of us. This is what David said, "I would have despaired", he said, "unless I had believed that I would see the Lord in the land of the living".
What does David mean when he said he would have despaired unless he had believed that he would see the Lord in the land of the living? The land of the living, beloved one, listen is RIGHT NOW. David isn't talking about dying and going to heaven. He's talking about the land of those that were living in the flesh on the earth at that moment in his lifetime.
So what David was saying is, if he didn't believe that he could experience God's goodness and presence in this life, I'm talking about right now, why you and I are alive in the flesh... David said if he didn't believe they could experience God's goodness while he was alive in the flesh, he would have despaired.
Some of us are thinking, "Well, on one day I'm going to meet the Lord". No, God is the God of the living. He's here and now. He's here and now. And I love the fact that he said to us that he's a rewarder of those that diligently seek him. In other words, my friends, you and I can experience God's goodness, his presence, his refreshing, and this life here and now.
So I want to encourage us all today to believe that. The Bible says once again, he's a rewarder of those who diligently seek them. And Jesus said in John Chapter 14 that if we would love him and obey him, that he would come to us and reveal himself to us, and that we would feel and experience the Father's love.
When you and I make knowing the Father, knowing Jesus, our goal in this life, when we put him first in this life and begin our day with God, make decisions all day long in conformity with God's goodness and who He is, what happens is: God draws near to us, and we experience, beloved, his supernatural reality in the NOW.