When God Removes His Presence

by Wayne Cordeiro on February 02, 2023

Good morning! It is Thursday, February 2, 2023. Here we find one of the most chilling verses in the Old Testament. This is one of the few times God said He would withdraw His presence. It’s a haunting verse that holds a profound lesson for you and me. Read on …

Today's Reading:
Exodus 33,34; Psalms 16; Acts 9

Scripture

“I will send an angel before you and drive out the Canaanites, Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. Go up to the land flowing with milk and honey. But I will not go with you, because you are a stiff-necked people and I might destroy you on the way.” (Exodus 33:2-3)

Observation

Unpliable. Rigid. Unyielding. Obstinate. These are words that defined the hearts of the Israelites in the desert. But would God really destroy them along the way? I guess He could. After all, He’s God, and we’re not! But that doesn’t sound like the heart of God. He’s not vengeful; nevertheless, He is true, and everything He does is because of love.

So why the removal of His presence?

Application

The Presence of God is powerful, and whatever is in that environment cannot remain the same. There’s a “torque” of His power, and nothing can stand against His transforming supremacy. In His presence, sickness is healed, brokenness is made whole, and the wayward are turned back to righteousness.

That’s the character of God. That’s the quality of His presence.

But the question remains: what if those in His Presence refuse to change? What if they reject wholeness and stubbornly demand to fight against His transforming power? Who wins?

God always wins. He knew that if the stiff-necked Israelites did not bend, they would shatter in His presence. Therefore, even though they were stiff and unyielding to His ever-changing power, His desire was to preserve them because of His love.

So, the solution?

He would remove His presence and send an angel instead.

Prayer

Father, my greatest fear is that Your presence would ever be removed from my life or New Hope because of a deliberate obstinance or inflexible heart. Therefore, I want to proclaim with Moses in the 13th verse: “If You are pleased with me, teach me Your ways so that I may know You and continue to find favor with You.”

Sign up to receive Pastor Wayne's devotions daily

click here

About the Author

Wayne Cordeiro

Dr. Wayne Cordeiro is the founding pastor of the New Hope International Ministry beginning in 1984 in Hilo, Hawaii. In 1995, he relocated to Honolulu and pioneered New Hope Oahu. Within 10 years, NHO was listed among the ten most innovative churches in America. Outreach Magazine listed them as one of the “top five churches to learn from.” New Hope has seen over 110,000 first time decisions since its inception and has planted 153 churches on the West Coast and in Okinawa, Philippines, Taiwan, Japan, Myanmar and Australia.

Wayne is an author of over 14 books and speaks globally on ministry and leadership. He also designed the Life Journal and the SOAP method for daily devotions used by thousands of churches. He is also the general editor of the LifeConnect Study Bible. In 2017, he passed the leadership baton in Hawaii and relocated to Eugene, Oregon to be president of New Hope Christian College (formerly Eugene Bible College, his alma mater). New Hope Christian College highlights the development of both the message and the messenger. (For more information, go to Newhope.edu).

In 2020, he pioneered New Hope West which partners with New Hope Christian College. It has become a “lab church” for ministry and leadership development. Wayne’s life themes are emphasizing the Word of God, a daily devotion to Jesus, evangelism, church planting, leadership development, communication and redeeming the arts and technology for Christ.

Wayne and his wife, Anna have been married for over 49 years. They have three married children (Amy Hisaoka, Aaron Cordeiro, and Abigail Rivest) and nine grandchildren. His hobbies include music, reading, golf, pickleball, and riding his horse.