Aftermath: Coming Down The MountainSample

Singularity

I love going to concerts. I love the way the crowd moves together like a single unit. I love the way the music feels like a physical force. I love the singularity of it all, how easy it is to disappear into the right song at the right moment with the right people. Live music gets inside me. It recharges my soul. But there’s always the morning after. 

I experienced the same feeling at a summer camp as a kid, but more intense. One night, I decided to go down to the front of the auditorium for prayer. I met God in a moment of profound singularity that I carry with me to this day. Everything else faded away. It was just me and God. My spirit came alive. My heart was flooded. 

And then, there was the morning after and the looming realization that the things I had left behind when I got on the bus to camp were all waiting for me back home. 

I was still a nerdy kid with few friends. 

I was still someone people liked to pick on and push around. 

I was still uncomfortable in my own skin. 

My life was still a mess. 

David experienced that, too. He had people coming to get him. He made mistakes that had huge consequences. The Bible says David was connected to the heart of God, but his life was a mess. In the midst of that mess, though, David met with God and wrote one of the most enduring and quoted poems in history. 

“God is my shepherd,” he wrote. “In the very shadow of death, He is with me.”

Our moments of meeting may end, but we never have to leave His presence. In the middle of the mess, God is there. 

Challenge:

1. What mess is waiting for you? How can you create space to meet God there? 
2. How can you carry God’s presence into the mess of those around you? What impact can you have there? 
3. PRAY: God, help me to never leave your presence. Let me see you at work in my mess. Remind me that, no matter what, you are there.