August 20

And I will meet with you there above the mercy seat, between the two cherubim that are over the ark of the Testimony; I will speak with you about all that I command you regarding the Israelites. — Exod 25:22 BSB

What heart can fully understand or express the blessedness of this heavenly truth—that at all times, in all circumstances, and in all places, there is a mercy seat, a throne of grace, where the God of all grace and a needy sinner can freely meet without any hindrance, as long as there is a spirit of prayer within the sinner’s heart? There is no place too dark for God’s eye to see, no circumstance too obscure for His sight to pierce through. As the Lord says, “Can anyone hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him? Do I not fill heaven and earth?” The Psalmist felt this when he wrote, “If I say, ‘Surely the darkness shall cover me,’ even the night shall be light around me. The darkness and the light are both alike to You.”

Whether by night on our bed or by day in our daily tasks, whether in crowded streets or quiet fields, surrounded by unbelievers or in fellowship with God’s people, we can, by the Spirit’s enabling, lift up a heartfelt sigh, utter a simple prayer, or pour out one earnest desire. Though it may seem to some insufficient to warrant God’s promise, “There I will meet with you,” every relief we experience proves it to be true. Wherever and whenever we sense the Lord’s presence or feel His power, whether the prayer is long or short, spoken on our knees or sighed out while standing, we have the sweet assurance that God fulfills His own gracious promise: “There I will meet with you.”