1. Outwardly we do not immediately see the results, but they will become clear when we face trial:
- Judges 16:20 And she said, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” And he awoke from his sleep and said, “I will go out as at other times and shake myself free.” But he did not know that the LORD had left him.
2. Our susceptibility to Satan and various evils will increase:
- 1 Samuel 16:14 ¶ Now the Spirit of the LORD departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the LORD tormented him.
- Romans 1:24 ¶ Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, 25 because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen. 26 ¶ For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; 27 and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error. 28 ¶ And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done.
3. Our glory departs:
- 1 Samuel 4:21 And she named the child Ichabod, saying, “The glory has departed from Israel!” because the ark of God had been captured and because of her father-in-law and her husband.
What shall we do?
1. Pray:
- Psalm 51:11 Cast me not away from your presence, and take not your Holy Spirit from me.
2. Accept nothing less than living in his presence. Demand it:
- John 6:66 ¶ After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him. 67 So Jesus said to the Twelve, “Do you want to go away as well?” 68 Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life…
Upon first reading these words of George MacDonald I was quite moved, and so it has always stayed in my memory, for I had experienced what these words describe many times:
Sometimes I wake, and, lo! I have forgot
And drifted out upon an ebbing sea!
My soul that was at rest now resteth not,
For I am with myself and not with thee (Diary of an Old Soul, 1.3).
Seek the presence of God, for without it all is Ichabod. We must, with Moses, demand God’s presence:
- Exodus 33:15 And he said to him, “If your presence will not go with me, do not bring us up from here.
We must, with Jacob, cling to his presence:
- Genesis 32:26 Then he said, “Let me go, for the day has broken.” But Jacob said, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.”
We must, as Ruth with Naomi, say to the Lord Jesus Christ,
- Ruth 1:16 “Do not urge me to leave you or to return from following you. For where you go I will go, and where you lodge I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God my God.
I have heard Martyn Lloyd-Jones relate a story about an old preacher who would plead with God before he entered into the pulpit. I am paraphrasing. On one occasion the preacher was late for a church gathering. Someone was sent to fetch him. The girl who had gone to retrieve him said, ‘He is at home and he is not alone. It sounded as if he were arguing. he kept saying, ‘I will not go unless you go with me.’
Someone responded, ‘Ah, then we must let him be late. He is pleading with God.’
Let that be our prayer every day before we go to work or school, or before we step into the pulpit.
