I share with you further thoughts about the torn veil from A.W. Tozer’s book, The Pursuit of God.
You have said, “Seek my face.” My heart says to you, “Your face , Lord do I seek.”(Psalm 27:8)
With the veil removed by the rending of Jesus flesh, with nothing on God’s side to prevent us from entering, why do we tarry without? Why do we consent to abide all our days just outside the Holy of Holies and never enter at all to look upon God? We sense his call but still we fail to draw near and the years pass and we grow old and tired in the outer courts of the tabernacle. What hinders us?
The answer usually given-that we are “cold”-could not explain all the facts. There is something more serious then coldness of heart. What is it? What but the presence of a veil in our hearts? A veil not taken away as the first veil was, but which remains there still shutting out the light and hiding the face of God from us. It is the veil of our fleshly fallen nature living on unjudged with in us and uncrucified and unrepudiated. It is the close-woven veil of the self-life which we have never truly acknowledged, of which we have been secretly ashamed, and which for these reasons we have never brought to the judgment of the cross. It is not too mysterious this opaque veil, nor is it hard to identify. We have but to look in our own hearts and we shall see it there, sewn and patched and repaired it may be, but nevertheless, an enemy to our lives and an effective block to our spiritual progress.
This veil is not a beautiful thing and it is not a thing about which we commonly care to talk about, but I am addressing the thirsting souls who determined to follow God, and I know they will not turn back because the way leads temporarily through the blackened hills. They will face the facts, however unpleasant and endure the cross for the joy set before them.
O beloved,let us not withdraw from God. Let us not keep Him in the distance. Let us not send someone to Him for some rules. Let us invite Him to our hearts, our homes, our very being. Let us make room for Him, let us tune our ears to His frequency so we can hear His voice. Nothing on God’s part keeps us separated. James tells us that if we draw near to Him, He will draw near to us.
While we are socially distancing from other humans, let us close the distance between our hearts and His. Let us so draw near to God during this time that like Moses, our faces reflect the glory of God to a darkened world.
The veil is torn, the barricade destroyed, the way made, come let us enter into the presence of the Lord!