If Thy Presence Go Not With Me
“If thy presence go not with me, carry us not up hence.”—Exodus 33:15
Happy for us, if this was our address to the Lord under every enterprise; how many distresses and difficulties should we avoid; how much more peaceful and comfortable should we be in our journey through life. It is a blessed thing to have an especial eye to God’s presence, as well as to his providence. The Lord may permit his children to succeed in their schemes and undertakings, in the course of his providence, when he doth not accompany their souls with his favour and presence. Yea, believer, canst thou not see in many of thy ways wherein thou hast been permitted to go, that they have proved the very means of losing the sweet sense of thy Lord’s presence? Whatever outward profit or pleasure thou hast gained, verily thou must confess to have suffered an inward loss. How doth it behove every disciple of Jesus to ‘consider his ways.’ It is thy wisdom daily to reflect, what is the tendency of my present pursuit; what is my chief aim; what can I expect from the end of it? Am I going to gratify the flesh, in pleasing diversions and carnal delights? Stop one moment: consider. Canst thou expect the presence of thy God? Canst thou lift up thy believing heart in prayer to Jesus to accompany thee? Certainly, if it is not right to ask nor expect his spiritual presence to go with thy soul, surely there it is unlawful for thee to go. If thou canst not pray in faith, canst thou go in faith? Oh remember the love of thy Saviour, who died to redeem thee from this present evil world. Call to mind those joys and. pleasures which are experienced from a sweet sense of his love and presence. Think how cutting to thy heart, how grieving to thy spirit, if under any vain indulgence, Jesus should put this question. Disciple, lovest thou me more than these vanities? Better for Peter to have been in his Lord’s presence with a cold body, than to have been warming himself with the high priest’s officers and servants; for there he was blown down by the breath of a damsel. It is related of a Christian, of whom Satan had taken possession, and greatly terrified and distressed her soul, that on his being asked, how he dared to enter into a child of God? He replied, ‘I found her on my own ground, at the playhouse; therefore I challenge her as my servant.’ Whether the story be true or not, the moral is good. Christians have no business on the devil’s ground.
Not earth, nor all the sky
Can one delight afford.
No, not a drop of real joy,
Without thy presence, Lord.
Thou art the sea of love
Where all my pleasures roll,
The circle where my passions move.
And centre of my soul.
William Mason (1719-1791) was a High-Calvinist author. For many years he served as a Justice of the Peace, and in 1783 was appointed a Magistrate. He served as editor of the Gospel Magazine before and after the editorship of Augustus Toplady. He is best known for a morning and evening devotional entitled, “A Spiritual Treasury For The Children Of God.”
