An Awareness of His Presence

13 Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him
sing praise (James 5:13).

Do you ever feel like your parents are all always watching? They are aware of your every move?
Maybe if you are younger this is case, but as you get older this should feel different as they help
you learn what true independence as an adult is really like. One day, we all move out of our
parent’s house (hopefully) and learn to live on our own. But even when our parents are no
longer looking out for us, there is one who never leaves us. Do you know who that is?
It’s God.
All of life should be lived with the awareness that we are constantly under the gaze of
God. This reality should not be one that leads us to worry or be nervous, but rather, we should
be quite thankful. Since of all of life is lived under the gaze of God we should be always ready
to think about how what we are doing or facing relates to God.
This is what James wants us to realize in our verse for today. Since all of our lives are
lived with God, it would seem that our praying would be much like breathing. Constant going in
and out. When life is hard, we pray. When life is stressful, we pray. When life is good we pray.
When life brings us to a sense of desperation, we pray. We should never think that we are on our
own. God is always with us and just like a friend who loves to listen, God is there to listen,
respond, and help. Always.

Read Psalm 139
• What does this Psalm say about living our lives under the gaze of God?
• In what ways have you been aware of God being near lately?
• In what ways have you forgotten to think about the Lord’s presence in your life lately? Have
there been specific situations?

Prayer
Our Father, thank you that you are always near and always ready to listen to us in prayer. May
be live lives that are full of communion with you. We need you. That is clear. Help us not to
forget. In Jesus’ name, Amen.