the earth melts

Recently, someone asked me what I meant when I said that "God told me something."  She asked what it was like when I knew that something was God's presence and voice instead of my own thoughts and feelings.  I did not get a chance to answer her question fully right then (and honestly, I wasn't really sure what to say), but it left me thinking of it for quite some time.  How do I know when I have heard from the Lord or felt his presence?  Or at least, how do I describe that to someone else?

Later that day, someone shared a verse with me, and when I heard it, I knew that it was precisely the expression I had been looking for-- the words that describe exactly what my heart feels like when I find myself in the presence of God.

" There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,

        the holy habitation of the Most High.
    God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved;
        God will help her when morning dawns.
    The nations rage, the kingdoms totter;
        he utters his voice, the earth melts.
    The LORD of hosts is with us;
        the God of Jacob is our fortress. "
(Psalm 46:4-7 ESV)

Out of tumult, confusion, chaos-- He utters his voice, the earth melts.  Simple, yet deeply profound. These words could have come straight from my own soul.  It reminds me of the story of Moses, when he unexpectedly meets the burning bush-- God's presence and voice-- and there is nothing else for him to do but take his sandals off because he is on holy ground.  I bet that Moses felt like the earth melted around him... like there was nothing else that existed but him and this beautiful, terrifying, Truth-filled voice that he heard resonating from his heart.  And the Lord speaks clearly and resolutely to Moses as one who is both his servant and his friend.  He shows Moses something wonderful that he is doing, then invites Moses to be an integral part of it.  The Lord then encourages Moses saying "I will be with you."

Goodness gracious. This is so beautiful to me.  It is so similar to the way that I experience God.  A burning bush comes out of nowhere, then instantaneously the earth melts.  It is these rare moments in which I am able to forget about myself long enough to see the living God, and He is gracious enough to speak to me, that my faith rests most upon.  It is not Scripture or knowledge or this great cloud of witnesses I am surrounded by, but the instances when the earth melts that have given me a real trust and a real relationship with my Savior.  Not to say those other things do not matter-- just to say that my personal encounters with the Lord breathe life into my faith more than anything else.

My dear friend Clive Staples says it way better than I could in his book Mere Christianity:

"The point is, God wants you to know Him: wants to give you Himself.  And He and you are two things of such a kind that if you really get into any kind of touch with Him you will, in fact, be humble-- delightedly humble, feeling the infinite relief of having for once got rid of all the silly nonsense about your own dignity which has made you restless and unhappy all your life.  He is trying to make you humble in order to make this moment possible: trying to take off a lot of silly ugly, fancy dress in which we have all got ourselves up and are strutting about like the little idiots we are.  I wish I had got a bit further with humility myself: if I had, I could probably tell you more about the relief, the comfort of taking the fancy dress off-- getting rid of the false self with all its posing and posturing.  To get even near it, even for a moment, is like a drink of cold water to a man in a desert.

My experience of God, if even for a moment, is like a drink of cold water (or a burning bush) to a man in a desert.  There is nothing I can do but take my sandals off and drink it all in: Truth, peace, quietness, joy, astonishment, worship, relief, clarity, humility, and grace.

He utters his voice.  The earth melts.