Created to Cling

Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth: When Kim Cash Tate read a passage in Deuteronomy, it made sense to her that God tells us to follow Him, fear Him, and obey Him.

Kim Cash Tate: But then it says, “Cling to Him." That word is not like the others. “Cling” puts me in God’s face; glued to Him. It’s personal; it's  intimate.

Nancy: We’ll hear more about clinging to God, today on Revive Our Hearts. It’s Tuesday, November 9, 2021. I’m Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth.

Do you find yourself in some seasons of life wondering, Is what I doing really matter? Today’s guest has felt just that way before, and we’ll hear from her in just a moment.

We're still receiving warm-hearted comments and testimonies from the Revive '21 conference that we hosted last month. What a joy it was to gather with women—both in Indianapolis and all over the world online—as we learned how to stand firm in this shaking world. Over the past couple of weeks, we’ve been sharing some highlights from the conference, and the different aspects of what it means to be grounded.

Today, we’re going to hear from my friend, Kim Cash Tate. Kim's a wife, she's a mom of two young adult kids. She's written a lot of books. She's a Bible teacher. This woman loves the Word of God. If you're not familiar with her, I want to encourage you to go to YouTube and watch some of her many videos there. Kim also serves on fthe advisory board of Revive Our Hearts, and I'm so grateful for that. Now, let’s listen to part 1 of Kim Cash Tate's mesaage at Revive '21. It's about getting grounded in the presence of God.

Kim: The stories that stand out in my mind of being shaken and needing to be grounded in the presence of God have to do with parenting and my kids. Through the years—my kids are now in their twenties, but maybe some of you can identify—different things have come up that have been challenging, painful, and just plain hard. 

I have always said that for me, parenting is the hardest job. People post stories on social media about perfect family dynamics . . . you’ve seen those. I don’t know anything about that! But what I do know is the Lord has been faithful to use those challenging times to cultivate a close relationship between me and Him. 

That’s what I pray that you take away. As much as you may be dealing with in your world, it can also be the sweetest intimate time between you and the Lord. 

When I’m shaken, I find myself uttering a single prayer: “Lord, help me to cling to You.” I have prayed that prayer countless times over the past twenty years—in desperate times, unpredictable times, painful times, through tears. “Lord, help me to cling to You.”

Sometimes, we can’t help being overwhelmed by whatever is happening in our lives; it’s just natural. That prayer reminds me that God is with me. It reminds me that Christ is in me. My realm is the supernatural. And if you’re in Christ, your realm is the supernatural. We don’t have to cling to the circumstances; we don’t have to cling to our emotions; we don’t have to cling to our own thoughts. I can cling to God and get His perspective, and watch His power at work in the circumstances. I can cling to God and let His peace, His love, His power, His faithfulness restore my soul in the midst of those trying circumstances. When I cling to God, I am grounded in His presence.

How did I start praying this prayer twenty years ago? How did this word, “cling,” transform my walk with the Lord? It’s from the book of Deuteronomy. But before I tell you how it grabbed me as I was studying one day, I have to take you way back.

I tell this story from my childhood because it is one of my most vivid memories. I was about eight years old. I had my little bag packed and stationed at the door, and I sat perched on my twin bed, waiting. Every now and then I’d hear a car engine. I would jump up and peer out of the window, hoping it belonged to my dad.

My parents divorced when I was four, and I was anticipating one of the things I cherished most: time with my dad. I loved being around my dad! He was the fun-loving parent. My mother would never ride a roller coaster; my dad was the one who coaxed me into the front car. He played sports. We shared a love of music. He has this infectious laugh. I would get so excited when I knew my dad was coming to get me. I’d be waiting.

The sun would go down, and every few minutes I’d get up and look out of the window, heart racing as a new set of headlights came down the street. Maybe that’s him. The thing I loved about him—his fun-loving nature—was the thing that caused him to forget the plans we had made, because he was engaged in something else. 

This was way before cell phones, so wherever he was, I couldn’t reach him. Tears would gather in my eyes as I realized, He’s not coming—again. More than once I wondered, Do I matter? He’s my father; we have a relationship. But I wanted to be with him, in his presence. Instead, I could feel the void. I didn’t know there was a God in heaven who saw me, who knew me before time began, who knew that one day He would draw me close to Himself.

I didn’t know the Lord growing up. My parents weren’t believers, and we rarely went to church. But I did attend a parochial school where I learned about Jesus and His life and miracles. I was captivated by Jesus.

I remember in third grade our class attended an Easter observance, and I thought about Jesus hanging on the cross, nails piercing His hands and feet. I wept in the pews, wondering how something so awful could happen to someone so good. By God’s grace, I never doubted that Jesus was the Son of God, never doubted that He died and rose again. I just didn’t know what it had to do with me!

So my life continued on without the presence of God. I went to college at the University of Maryland and George Washington for law school. My plan was to stay in the D.C. area and practice law there for the rest of my life. But during law school I started dating a man named Bill Tate. We were graduating at the same time, May 1991. He was getting a PhD in math education and got an offer from the top school in his field—the University of Wisconsin at Madison.

By this time we were talking about marriage, but I’m sorry, there was no way I was moving to Wisconsin! I loved my home. I loved the culture and diversity in D.C. So, “You know what, Bill? I love you, I thought this was going somewhere, but you do you, and I’m going to do me.” With no presence of God in my life, that’s how I made decisions. “If it’s not something that I like, why would I do it?”

But God is sovereign. I didn’t know Him, but He knew me. He closed every single door in D.C. I could not get a job, and got the best job I could have gotten out of law school clerking for a federal judge in Madison. (laughter)

So Bill and I went to Madison. It was what I thought. I did not like it. But here’s the thing; that, too, was part of God’s plan. I complained to Bill every chance I got. I went home to Maryland every chance I got. In the midst of all of that, I remembered the God I learned about in grade school. I remembered that Jesus could do miracles. I said, If He can do miracles, He can get me out of Madison! (laughter) The Lord used my discontent to draw me. I was talking to Him now, asking Him to help me.

I found out that as you start to get a little taste of God’s presence, the first taste you’ll probably get is conviction. Bill and I were living together. We were engaged, had this big wedding planned for May, but I started feeling convicted about our living arrangement. I talked to Bill about it. We both knew enough to know this was not pleasing to God, but we had now been living in Madison for a year and a half. It hadn’t come up before! But the Spirit of God was at work.

Valentine’s Day was two weeks away. We kept the big May wedding but decided to get married in a private ceremony. We had two witnesses in our home on Valentine’s Day, but the main witness, the one who really mattered, was the Lord. For the first time, I made a decision for my life that involved Him.

The following year, Bill’s barber invited him to church, and I heard the gospel for the very first time. Once again, I was weeping in the pews, but this time I knew what Jesus’ death had to do with me. I knew it was for me, for my sin, and I wept over my sinfulness. I wept with gratitude that I could be forgiven and saved. God didn’t get me out of Madison. We lived there for eight years—joyfully, after a time! But He saved me in Madison.

I gave my life to Jesus at twenty-seven, but you know, by twenty-seven you have a lot of convictions built up about how you want to live your life. For me, especially for my career, there was a lot that I had in my own mind planned to do. But now I had the Spirit of God indwelling me, the very presence of God within. I didn’t know how to get grounded in His presence yet, but how many of you know sometimes getting grounded means first some things need to be shaken up?

I had been raised with this in my ear: “You need to make your own money so you never have to depend on a man for anything.” That was my mother’s mantra, and in her mind, my hope was in getting a good education, building a career. So I was all in. At twenty-seven I was a civil litigator at a large firm, which meant long, unpredictable hours.

Bill and I had our first baby, our son, and God started shaking up my world. I longed to be with the baby more than being in that office. But leaving my job altogether seemed so radical! So first I reduced my hours to 80 percent, then 60 percent; but it was only the pay that went down, the hours stayed the same. (laughter)

Our daughter was born two years later. I became a partner; things were going well. But I had been seeking the Lord about what to do. One day on a long road trip, I talked to Bill about leaving the firm altogether. By the time we got home, we agreed that that’s what I would do. I felt giddy about it! This was the Lord. There was no way I would have come up with this on my own.

I was filled with joy at being led by Him into His will for my life. But then, I was actually home with two toddlers—no time to myself, no time to take a shower, definitely no time to write. I felt that God had called me to write, but whenever I would try I could not focus. I found myself feeling frustrated. I even struggled a little with my identity. When people would say, “So, what do you do?” I would say, “I’m an attorney; I’m just not practicing right now.” (laughter) You ever feel that light tap of conviction by the Holy Spirit? Like, “Cut that out!” (laughter)

The Lord renewed my mind about a whole lot during that time. One thing He used was a new radio program by this woman named Nancy Leigh DeMoss. Nancy was teaching biblical principles I had never heard that helped to ground me in the season God had called me to. This was about twenty years ago—how crazy is that? I began to embrace home as a ministry and to see it as my main ministry, and I saw the beauty and the power in it.

I’m so grateful to you, Nancy, for decades of steadfastness in calling women to freedom, fullness, and fruitfulness in Christ. (applause)

But something else happened in that season after I left my job. I had thought I’d get more time with the kids. What I didn’t expect was, I got more time with the Lord. I had been reading the Bible, but now I was studying the Bible. I got a new Bible and some colored pencils—I’m an inductive study girl—and started in Genesis chapter 1. Every day when the kids took their naps, I would sit at the kitchen table with my coffee—I do have coffee and Christ, Nancy! I’d spend a couple of hours in the Word. This became my most cherished time of the day. I was learning more deeply about people in the Bible, but even more, I was learning about the God of the Bible, seeing His love for His people, His power, His protection, His holiness, His faithfulness, His sovereignty. My love for God grew deeper as I beheld Him in the pages of Scripture.

I didn’t think of it this way at the time, but as I spent time in the Word each day, I was grounding myself in the presence of God. Whatever else was happening in my life—whatever frustrations, emotions, weariness, challenges—all of it got checked during that time. I would see, God is trustworthy. He sees me. He knows what I’m dealing with, and He is well able to handle it. Nothing is too hard for Him.

So I go through Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers—and I get to Deuteronomy. Moses and the people of Israel have spent decades in the wilderness, they’re about to enter the Promised Land. But first, Moses is reminding them how they got here, having to spend forty years in the wilderness because of Israel’s unbelief and rebellion against God. That generation had died in the wilderness; Moses is speaking to the next generation. He gives instructions from God as to how they are to live in the land and all that they are to do.

This is where I was about twenty years ago during my study of Deuteronomy, when I saw it. First, in Deuteronomy 10:20: “You shall fear the LORD your God; you shall serve Him and cling to Him.” This is the NASB version. That one word, “cling,” jumped out at me.

I kept going. Go to Deuteronomy 13:4, where Moses says, 

You shall follow the LORD your God and fear Him, and you shall keep His commandments, listen to His voice, serve Him, and cling to Him.

Five of those verbs make sense. Follow, yes. Of course, God’s people must follow Him; how else will they know the way? Fear Him; right, He is God. God’s people ought to have a holy and reverential fear of Him. Keep His commandments—certainly, God would expect obedience. Listen to His voice—there are so many voices competing for our attention, including our own. It’s God’s voice we must listen to. Makes sense. Serve Him definitely makes sense.

Here’s the thing: all of those things can be done from a distance. We can even follow Him from a distance, as long as you’re headed in the same direction. But then it says, “Cling to Him.” That word is not like all the others. “Cling” puts me in God’s face, glued to Him. It’s personal. It’s intimate. It’s a command from God, but to me it read as an invitation.

But it was hard to fathom. Almighty God, the God of the universe, the one who made the sun, moon, and stars, is telling me not just to cling to Him, but that I can cling to Him? That He wants me that close? All the time? It was a gift! A gift for that little girl staring out of the window waiting for her daddy. A gift for the girl who wondered if she really mattered.

That’s when I began praying, “Lord, help me to cling to You.” And for the past couple of decades, through storms and trials, season to season, He has been faithful to answer that prayer. We were created to cling, to walk intimately with our Lord, to stay in His presence. 

Adam and Eve had that perfect intimacy with God in the garden; being able to walk and talk with Him, enjoy His presence. We know what happened. The serpent, Satan, tempts Eve to eat of the one tree that had been forbidden. She eats, Adam eats, and their sin changes everything. Instead of a beautiful, personal relationship with God we see separation.

Genesis 3:8 breaks my heart. 

They heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden. 

They hid themselves from the presence of God! They had never done such a thing, had never known such a thing.

Genesis 3:23, “Therefore the LORD God sent him out from the garden of Eden.” Imagine how much that broke God’s heart. He did not create man to dwell apart from Him, but sin meant they could no longer dwell in His presence, enjoy His presence the way they had. Sin meant their world became shaky, and because each of us is born in sin, our worlds are shaky—full of turmoil, devoid of hope. We cannot get grounded apart from Christ.

But praise God for His love and mercy! Before the foundation of the world, He had a plan. He sent His Son to die on the cross for our sins, to pay the sin debt that we owe. When we believe on the name of Jesus for salvation, we are saved. We are brought into relationship with our Abba Father, and Jesus is Emmanuel, God with us. We have His presence always, “Christ in you, the hope of glory.” We can stay grounded in His presence always!

Dannah: How beautiful is that? No matter what we’re facing today, no matter how unsteady this world gets, we can rest knowing that God is always with us. Kim Cash Tate has been reminding us, His presence is what keeps us grounded. At Revive Our Hearts, we want to keep encouraging you to stay grounded with our new 2022 wall calendar. Each month is beautifully illustrated. Hand-lettered Scripture and quotes from Nancy are on each page. This has been designed by our Revive Our Hearts team to keep you grounded in Christ all year long.

We know that the term “grounded” has been a pretty common catch phrase around here, especially with our recent Revive '21 conference, but it’s so much more than that. This calendar will help remind you that every day, every month, all year long, you can cultivate a grounded and grateful heart. You’ll receive this inspirational Revive Our Hearts wall calendar as a thank you-gift when you donate to the ministry right now. Your support means so much to us, and we hope this will be an encouraging reminder for you to stay focused on the Lord throughout 2022.

Visit ReviveOurHearts.com to make your gift today, or call us at 1–800–569–5959 and ask for the wall calendar.

Tomorrow, we’re going to hear the rest of Kim’s message as she shares with us some practical ways to get grounded in God’s presence. Please be back for Revive Our Hearts.

Revive Our Hearts with Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth calls you to cling to Christ as you experience His freedom, fullness, and fruitfulness.

All Scripture is taken from the NASB.

*Offers available only during the broadcast of the podcast season.