When Mary went to His tomb, she was devastated to see Jesus was no longer there. She was so distraught she didn’t even recognise her resurrected Saviour standing right by her. There are times we feel so desperate to ‘see the Lord’, to have Him ‘show up’ and manifest Himself to us in our time of need, we don’t even recognise He is and has been with us all along.
The trouble is: through our panic or distress, we just don’t realize Him standing right in our midst. The Word promises that His Spirit lives in us and will never leave us. It says when we call on His Name, He will answer us; and because we are His, we will hear and recognise His voice (John 10:27, Jeremiah 33:3). God wants us to encounter Him. He designed us to walk with Him; to be energised and infused by His life and peace. Since He has promised us this, we simply have to take Him at His Word and believe it’s true – no matter how we feel, or what our circumstances are (Hebrews 11:6). This is called faith and it pleases Him.
The moment we settle on the truth that God is in us and with us – because His Word promises it – His peace comes. It guards our hearts and minds from fear, and brings perfect clarity where there was confusion. It brings us to a place where we encounter His Presence that empowers and sustains us, as we experience His goodness, and receive His mercy to help in our time of need.