Daily Devotional

How glib we can become.  We are privileged in these New Testament times.  We are bidden to come waltzing into God’s presence, and we do, in shorts and a t-shirt with flip-flops, and talk casually with the Lord while eating an apple (Hebrews 4:16).  And it needs to be like this, or we can become excessively religious.  At least sometimes.

But God is holy.  He is “the LORD is our righteousness” (Jeremiah 33:16).  He is “the fountain of living water” (Jeremiah 17:13).  “Do I not fill the heavens and the earth?” declares the Lord (Jeremiah 23:24).   How do we approach Him?

I am writing this devotional in July 2023.  Six years ago this month I started memorizing a Scripture passage before bed each night, just one or two verses.  It was for mental and spiritual health.  Little did I know that it would turn into times of worship, communion, seeking, prayer, and awe!

Yet it does not by itself solve everything.  It has, however, opened up doors of understanding.  It has brought me to my knees in worship.  It has lifted my hands in joy.  It has also gripped me with a heart of confession and repentance.

And it makes me hungry.  Who is this God we serve, really?  How can we possibly know Him who fills the heavens and the earth?  Sometimes I cannot be casual.  Sometimes I have to seek Him earnestly.  No amount of glib prayer and tossing around of holy verses will do.  I need Him!

I love going to the mountains, better than all other places on earth.  Yes, better than Disneyland!  But it takes work.  It takes preparation.  I have to be ready for what I will encounter.  It takes time.  I burn gas.  I wear out my car some.  I risk my life sometimes on curves on the edges of cliffs.  I might have to tromp through the undergrowth.  But it is worth it all.

There is a mountain we are called to as believers in Jesus.  His holy mountain.  The mountain height of Israel.  Not the fearsome mountain of Moses’ experience.  But the Hebrews 12 Mount Zion and the city of the living God.  There is the fountain of living water.  There runs the fountain filled with the blood of the Savior.

When the Old Testament priests were directed to meet God in the Holy of Holies, it was a ritual to get ready.  An ordeal.  Washing.  Wearing special garments over the skin.  Putting on priestly garments.  Taking fresh blood of the sacrificed animal.  They went in fear.  They went in anticipation.

God’s presence on His holy mountain waits for us.  It is not for every day.  But it needs to be sometimes.  We need to make the effort.  My last experience led me through a long preparation in James 4—humble myself, submit myself, resist the devil, draw near to God, clean my hands, purify my heart, weep, and cry out.

But it led to God’s presence on His holy mountain.  “There I will accept them,” He says.  There He will require gifts and sacrifices.  There I was cleaned.  There I was dressed again in clean, white robes.  There a sash was put across my shoulders, stained red in Christ’s blood, with writing on it something like, “An Anointed One of the Lord.”  There was fresh anointing. (Psalm 92:10).  The oil glistened on my skin.  There I was empowered anew in the Spirit.  There the fresh word was given to me (Jeremiah 1:9).  There my vision was clarified.

This probably all seems too much to you, and too hyper, like was told by Paul (Acts 26:24).  But when shall we come and present ourselves to God, and not be denied?  When shall we wrestle with God and prevail, and secure the blessing? (Genesis 32:24–30)   When shall we seek to just touch the hem of Jesus’ garment, and be healed?  (Matt. 9:21)  

If not now, when?  If not my way, what way?  Go to Him, He yearns for you!  He jealously desires the spirit He has made to dwell in you! (James 4:5).  He is holy.  Make yourself ready.  Try James 4.  Try Ezekiel’s holy mountain (Ezekiel 20:40).  Or Mount Zion and the city of the living God (Hebrews 12:22).  Or Ezekiel’s fountain of living water (Ezekiel 17:13).

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