Remaining in His Presence

Well, it has been a few days since I last posted.  It has been a bit of a good and trying weekend, all rolled into one.  God has really been working even in the last several days, we can see His hand at work in many areas of our lives.  My wife and I continually stand amazed at the work that  the Lord is doing in us and through us.  The flip side of this is that my grandmother, the last of that generation left on my side of the family, is in her final stages of life.  My family is originally from Kentucky, and so my mother is going to have her taken back to Kentucky for the grave side service, when the time comes.  They plan on just having a simple graveside service which would last about 45 minutes to an hour, and let me remind you it is five hours just to get there from where I live.  So that is ten hours of drive time plus the two-three days of staying there, and honestly my closer is done and taken care of so for me there is no need in dragging it out any further. Some would say, how could you talk about such a thing as this without any sorrow?  Well, there is a part of me that mourns, but I believe it is overshadowed by a greater understanding about this life.  Yes, she is passing soon, but she will no longer be in that shell, she will step from this life into the presence of King Jesus.  Just like all those others who are believers who have died, they are all now in the presence of Jesus the Lion of Judah.  I say all that to bring me to something that jumped out at me this morning in my reading, listen to this verse and what it says:
Exodus 33:11 - Thus the Lord used to speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend.   When Moses turned again into the camp, his assistant Joshua the son of Nun, a young man, would not depart from the tent. 
Without going into to much detail, remember Exodus is just that the account of Israel being brought out by the hand of Almighty God, from the slavery in Egypt.  While only a few days into their journey, the Lord commands them to camp out Mt. Sinai and there He gives the Law to Moses, what many may know as the Ten Commandments. Now the Lord had commanded Moses to bring only the chief people of Israel upon the mountain with him, and at one juncture they even dine with God. (Exodus 24:9-11)  Now the Lord at this point commands Moses to go up the rest of the way into His presence to receive the Law, and so Moses does, and the people are to remain at the base of the mountain, because the Lord had already said that anyone who tried to enter His presence would be destroyed, because as Exodus 24:17 points out that "the glory of the Lord was like a devouring fire..." (also Deuteronomy 4:24).  But go back a few verses and notice something interesting, there is a person who does come to fruition until some 40 years later, but he is mentioned briefly throughout.  Exodus 24:13 - So Moses rose with his assistant Joshua, and Moses went up into the mountain of God.  Now whether Joshua went all the way up Moses or not we are not completely sure but there is the indication that he remained on the outside of this particular occasion.  But, notice already Joshua is being drawn into the presence of the Lord.  Now after receiving all the laws for the tabernacle and such, Moses has them build the tent of meeting, and from there Moses would enter in for the people before God, and he would then come out and declare the word of the Lord to the people.  But an interesting verse stands out amongst all this grandeur of going in and out of the presence of God.
Exodus 33:11 - Thus, the Lord used to speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend.  When Moses turned again into the camp, his assistant Joshua the son of Nun, a young man, would not depart from the tent.
Notice that phrase in the verse, his assistant Joshua the Son of Nun, a young man, would not depart from the tent.  Although Moses would in a sense come and go from the presence of the Lord, and the presence of the Lord would itself reside for a time on the tent of meeting and then be removed while Israel was traveling, every time the tent was set up no matter the period of time, Joshua, this simple assistant to Moses would not wish to remain with Moses the whole time but instead longed to remain in the presence of the Lord Almighty.  In so doing, we see later on in the opening chapter of the book of Joshua, that the Lord declares to Joshua that no man would be able to stand before him all the days of his life, and that the Lord himself would not leave or forsake him.  Joshua remained in the presence of God his whole life here upon this earth to the point that the Lord was able to use him to ultimately conquer the land of Canaan for Israel.  Joshua even as a young man, longed to remain in the presence of God, and he longed for it so much that when the cloud was lifted from the tent, he would remain in the tent until the Lord's presence returned.
It struck a cord with me that yes my grandmother is passing from this life into the presence of Jesus, but I am here and now, and I must be like Joshua and stand firm in where I know the presence of God is working in my life and around me.  I must desire and fight with all I can muster to remain in the presence of God, and not let the things of this world so easily distract me from remaining in His presence.  One vital area in our life that this is done is through prayer, prayer is the battle field upon which we lay our lives before the presence of the Lord and allow Him to fight the war that we can not win on our own.  May we be like Joshua and desire and long for the presence of the Lord.