I. Although God be not far from every one of us, yet many of us have no consciousness of His presence; for a large portion of our lives we do not think of Him, and when we do it is rather an uncertain feeling after Him amidst thick darkness than the seeing Him in the clear light revealed in and by His Son Jesus Christ. And these two states, the seeing God constantly in Christ and the not so seeing Him, are the great and eternal differences which will divide all of us from one another, the differences which will make and do make our lives holy or unholy, which will make our deaths blessed or cursed.
II. It is quite true that many who live without thinking of God do yet intend to keep, and do keep actually, many of God's laws. It is precisely because there can be, and is up to a certain point, good without God, because men feel that even without a lively sense of God Himself they can love His moral works, as they can love His natural works, that therefore they are blind themselves, and we too often are blind for them, to their infinite danger; they speak peace to themselves, and we echo the word till the true peace is hidden from them for ever.
III. What strength amidst weakness, what decision amidst endless wavering, what joy in life, what hope in death, are to be found in this consciousness of God in Christ! It is the life of Christ's people, the life of the children of God.
T. Arnold, Christian Life: Sermons,vol. v., p. 305.
References: Deuteronomy 9:1. Parker, vol. v., p. 7. Deuteronomy 9:4; Deuteronomy 9:5. Clergyman's Magazine,vol. viii., p. 222.