Take me often from the tumult of things into Thy presence. There show me what I am, and what Thou hast purposed me to be. Then hide me from Thy tears.
Hebridean Altars
Over the past couple of days I have allowed myself time to allow this brief prayer to soak into my life. To fully appreciate it and honour the first sentence I first needed to make sure that I was obedient to coming fully into his presence. The second sentence is quite confronting. Coming into the presence of God also is about coming more fully to who I am. “Then hide me from thy tears”. This sentence asks me to expose myself fully. When I am fully with God and fully with myself what is it that we weep about? This time together is our shared story about the things that we love and sometimes the things that I love that separate us. I know that so often I am less than loving. I know that the person I love the most in this life, my wife April is also the one that bears the brunt of my unlovingness. God invites us into all his love, it’s a fierce, loyal, forgiving love. And, as I come into his presence, often I know there are things that will make him weep. Yet as we cry together, about the shared loves that we have, I know that it’s by being open to knowing the pain of disappointment that love can live more deeply in me. I am given that choice, to shy away and become less known to myself and to God. Or, to become more fully what God has intended me to become, the purpose that he created more for. To become love, to enter into God’s love and to stay in that presence.
by Pastor Chris Gribble from his page for supports of his Destiny Rescue Ministry