How Do We Experience God?

I have an overriding thought that I wish to drive home to you in today’s meditation. That thought is found in the following passages:

Leviticus 26:3 If ye walk in my statutes, and keep my commandments, and do them;

4 Then I will give you rain in due season, and the land shall yield her increase, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit.

6 And I will give peace in the land, and ye shall lie down, and none shall make you afraid: and I will rid evil beasts out of the land, neither shall the sword go through your land.

11 And I will set my tabernacle among you: and my soul shall not abhor you.

12 And I will walk among you, and will be your God, and ye shall be my people.

14 ¶But if ye will not hearken unto me, and will not do all these commandments;

15 And if ye shall despise my statutes, or if your soul abhor my judgments, so that ye will not do all my commandments, but that ye break my covenant:

16 I also will do this unto you; I will even appoint over you terror, consumption, and the burning ague, that shall consume the eyes, and cause sorrow of heart: and ye shall sow your seed in vain, for your enemies shall eat it.

17 And I will set my face against you, and ye shall be slain before your enemies: they that hate you shall reign over you; and ye shall flee when none pursueth you.

23 And if ye will not be reformed by me by these things, but will walk contrary unto me;

24 Then will I also walk contrary unto you, and will punish you yet seven times for your sins.

2 Samuel 22:26 With the merciful thou wilt shew thyself merciful, and with the upright man thou wilt shew thyself upright.

27 With the pure thou wilt shew thyself pure; and with the froward thou wilt shew thyself unsavoury.

2 Chronicles 15:2 And he went out to meet Asa, and said unto him, Hear ye me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin; The LORD is with you, while ye be with him; and if ye seek him, he will be found of you; but if ye forsake him, he will forsake you.

Colossians 3:23 And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men;

24 Knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance: for ye serve the Lord Christ.

25 But he that doeth wrong shall receive for the wrong which he hath done: and there is no respect of persons.

Now don’t just rush through the reading of those verses. Think about what they are saying to you. They are setting forth a principle of God’s divine government that applies in both the Old Testament and the New Testament. That principle is the overriding thought I want to drive home to you. And that principle is that we determine by our behaviour how we experience God! If we walk in His commandments, He will walk with us, He will deal with us mercifully, He will be found of us, and He will reward us. But if we walk contrary to Him, He will walk contrary to us, He will forsake us, He will requite us our wrong, and we will find God very unpleasant (unsavoury) to deal with. Observe that whether we are upright in our behaviour or whether we are froward (perverse, ungovernable) in our behaviour, we do not escape having to deal with God.

It should be obvious that how we experience God will determine the quality of our lives in this world. Now this principle may not seem to apply in some cases as there are those who rebel against God and prosper in this world. Let these verses tell us about these people.

Psalms 73:12 Behold, these are the ungodly, who prosper in the world; they increase in riches.

Hebrews 12:8 But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons.

Again, as God’s children we determine how we will experience God. And it does not matter who you are, what your position is, nor how many past blessings you have enjoyed. In this matter of the divine government, “there is no respect of persons.” Be warned. You shall experience God! There is no getting around that fact. The question is: how will you experience Him?

Remember that we will observe the Lord’s Supper again this Sunday, God willing. How will you experience God in that service? It depends on your behaviour.