Intimacy

by Ina Manly Painter

Te Lord is with you when you are with Him
(2 Chronicles 15:2).
M
editating on this beautiful truth that the Lord is with me when I am with
Him brought to mind what our young Caleb said when I coaxed him out
of the big white swing under the poplar tree. I wanted him to taste the blackber-
ries and see the groundhogs den on the other side of the yard. Eager for a new
adventure, Caleb let the others know, Granna will hold my hand and walk with me
and I will hold Grannas hand and walk with her.
Te Holy Spirit lets us in on the hand-holding, walking-together intimacy
in a conversation we overhear between Azariah and Asa in 2 Chronicles 15:2.
Listen to me, Asa... the Lord is with you when you are with Him. Ten the Holy
Spirit, speaking through Azariah, adds a key truth for you and me. And if you seek
Him, He will let you nd Him; but if you forsake Him, He will forsake you. As
Matthew Henry said, Tis is both a word of comfort, that those who keep close to
God shall always have his presence with them; and also a word of caution, He is
with you while you be with him, but no longer. You have not a signal token of his
favorable presence with you, but the continuance of it depends upon your perse-
39 Counsel of Chalcedon Issue 2 2011
Intimacy by Ina Manly Painter
verance in the way of your duty.
1
Tis is
a precious truth with a promise as well
as a dangerous consequence unless we
quit our arguments, repent, and return
to God in voluntary obedience.
Repentance and returning to God
is more than admitting a sin, like the
reprobate Judas did once he saw the
end result of what appeared to him at
rst to be an ingenious plan. I have
sinned by betraying innocent blood,
he said (Matthew 27:4). Well, no joke! It
was big of him to admit that one sin
after refusing to repent and trust in the
Lord Jesus all those years.
What about you and me? Can we
be certain that the Lord Jesus will be
with us once we have repented of not
just one sin, but our continual sinning,
our natural atheism as C.H Spurgeon
called it?
Jesus demonstrated the uninter-
rupted intimacy of forgiveness and
restoration to His disciples during the
intervening weeks between His resur-
rection and His ascension. After all
he had done for them, and their own
professions of attachment, when the
hour of trial came, they all forsook him
and ed. How much he felt their defec-
tion.... He looked for some to take pity,
and there was none; and for comfort-
ers and found none (Psalm 69:20). Had
he gone away to heaven, and they had
not seen him, they would have feared
his resentment and displeasure. But
he appeared to them again and again,
and always with kindness in his looks,
and peace on his lips; and at last, laying
his hands on them, he was taken up to
heaven in the very act of blessing them,
thus telling them that he had the same
heart as ever, and was more than paci-
ed towards them after all that they
had done.
2
Te Lords presence with us when
we are with Him carries with it all the
means of grace, securing an ultimate
happiness that no other relationship
aords. His intimacies open channels
in the heart, through which His love
reaches and control all our other powers.
Tis love makes us new creatures, gives
us new workings of the aections, and
prompts a new language from our lips.
3
Our great Shepherd keeps us with-
in His all encompassing providence,
like a man that will not let his servant
go out of his sight. I cannot break away
from thee.
4
While we are with Him
in a way of duty, he will be with us in a
way of blessing.
5
As Samuel Rutherford
said, Christ hath put the Father and
me in each others arms.
6
I have been reading the Story Of
Te Confederate, States by Joseph T.
Derry. Of course Mr. Deny is not with
me while I am, so-to-speak, with him;
not because he no longer lives, but be-
cause he never possessed that capabil-
ity. Only the living Lord Jesus, our great
Prophet is with us always, revealing
Counsel of Chalcedon Issue 2 2011
40
Intimacy by Ina Manly Painter
to us, by his word and Spirit the will of
God for our salvation.
7
Because Jesus prayed, Father, I de-
sire that they also whom You have given
Me, be with Me... (John 17:24), we have
the assurance that we shall be with Him
through the eternity of the eternities (1
Tessalonians 4:17). One day you will
rejoice when Christ layeth down your
head under his chin, and betwixt his
breasts, and drieth your face, and wel-
cometh you to glory and happiness.
8
Ten, dear brothers and sisters, every-
thing that hindered the full giving and
receiving of love between you and Jesus
will have been removed. Your redemp-
tion will be complete. On that day you
and I will be with Him and He will be
with us and we will go out from Him no
more. And it will make Satans court
ring with the news...that the saints have
arrived safe at the bosom of Christ, out
of the reach of hell forever.
9
1. Matthew Henry, Matthew Henrys Com-
mentary, vol.1 (Wilmington, DE: Sovereign
Grace, [1845] 1972), 1068.
2. William Jay, Morning Exercises for Every Day
in the Year (Harrisonburg, VA: Sprinkle Pub-
lications, [circa 1828] 1998), 355.
3. George Burrowes, Te Song of Solomon (Ed-
inburgh: Banner of Truth, [1853] 1977), 11.
4. Samuel Annesley, Puritan Sermons 1659-1689,
vol.1 (Wheaton, ILL: Richard Owen Roberts,
Publishers, [1661] 1981), 25.
5. Henry Wilkerson, Puritan Sermons 1659-1689,
vol. 2 (Wheaton ILL.: Richard Owen Rob-
erts, Publishers, [1674] 1981), 502.
6. Letters of Samuel Rutherford (Edinburgh:
Banner of Truth, [1664] 1973), 66.
7. Te Shorter Catechism with Scripture Proofs
(Edinburgh: Banner of Truth, n.d.), 7.
8. Samuel Rutherford, Letters of Samuel
Rutherford(Edinburgh: Banner of Truth,
[1664] 1973), 63, 64.
9. Richard Baxter, Te Saints Everlasting Rest
(Grand Rapids, MI.: Christian Classics, n.d.), 1.
Ina Manly Painter has a BS & MS in
Psychology/Counseling from the Uni-
versity of TN, Knoxville, where she
and her husband Harrison reside. Ina is
author of Finding Hope In Gods Ever-
lasting, Intimate Friendship, available
at www.InaManlyPainter.com and a
Christian bookstore near you. Ina can
be reached at Hipainter@charter.net
ina manly painter