The Place Where We Belong

Recently I had borrowed a mallet from the Blairmore workshop and did not return it immediately (as I should have done!). Much later, when I finally remembered to put it back, the Lord spoke into my heart: “This is where this mallet belongs, and you belong in Me”. Immediately I remembered the years I spent without knowing God. Back then I felt lost, and indeed I was lost, because I was not where I belonged. We all belong in God’s loving embrace and are lost outside of it.

A moving life story is that of Lt. Gen. Sir William Dobbie, nick-named ‘the Defender of Malta’. During WWII he was the governor and commander-in-chief of the British troops on this island. He was charged with defending Malta at all costs against the Nazis. His strong personal faith and reliance on prayer helped him to this successfully fulfil this charge, against overwhelming odds, and this strategic island was never taken by the enemy. Dobbs records miracles of God’s intervention in his book ‘A very present help’. His life was a great success in many ways, but his own testimony towards the end of his life was this: “Uninterrupted contact with the heavenly Father is the most wonderful thing in the world”.

William Dobbs was no doubt a very busy person. Each day must have come with enormous pressures, knowing the incredible importance of his task in the war effort. But, in the midst of all of that, he appears to have remembered the most important thing - staying close to God.

We may have lots of good plans, goals, ambitions and intentions on any given day. A day might be busy. We might even feel we have lots of important things to do. But it is all empty unless we keep our focus on what I believe is the most important thing, staying where we belong, in the presence of God.

A popular Christian chorus by Paul Wilbur contains these words:

In Your presence,
That`s where I am strong.
In Your presence,
O Lord my God.
In Your presence,
That`s where I belong,
Seeking Your face,
Touching Your grace,
In the cleft of the Rock,
In Your presence, O God.

When Jesus died on the cross, we received free access to the presence of the living God. Up to then only the High Priest was allowed to enter, once a year, following a very strict protocol. We, as believers in Jesus, are invited to walk in God’s presence day by day. It’s a gift of grace. What a privilege! May God help us, by His Holy Spirit to recognise this place of belonging and may He help us stay close to Him throughout each day.

Prayer: Father in Heaven, I recognise that I belong in You and that only in Your presence can I truly be the person I am meant to be and do the things I am meant to do. Please enable me to stay close to You and bring me back whenever I wander away. In Jesus’ name, Amen.