GOD’S PRESENCE WITH HIS PEOPLE
Psalm 114

When considering the doctrine of God, it is normal to think about His omnipresence.  He is the God who is everywhere at all times.  There is nowhere that we can go to get away from Him (see Psalm 139).  He is always present, thus the term: omnipresent.  Yet, when we look at certain passages in Scripture, we see that this doctrine may not be as simple as we once thought.  There are times when it surely seems that the Lord is not present.  Granted, we know that He is there, but His presence is withdrawn.  This has led to the talk of the manifest presence of the Lord.  There are times when the Lord’s presence is unmistakable.  A good example of this is found in the Tabernacle in the Old Testament.  Moses would go out to meet with God face to face in the Tabernacle, or Tent of Meeting.  Yet, couldn’t Moses just meet with the Lord in his own tent?  Wasn’t the Lord just as present among the people as He was in the Tabernacle, or later in the Temple?  Of course, He was present in every place, yet, His presence was manifest in a unique way in the Tabernacle and later in the Temple.  More could obviously be said about this.