before the Presence of God

My soul is athirst for God…athirst for the living God; when shall I come to appear before the presence of God?
Psalm 42:2

i’m on a short sabbatical…and i have found my circumstance reflective in psalm 42

but there is a paradox i am wrestling with...'when shall i come to appear before the presence of God'...i mean that is what i am attempting to do here, but…

my question – paradoxical or not – is: does God 'show up' or do i ‘show up’? is it me that in some way i 'tune-in' to God's Presence...?

because i think i've witnessed both...[following the practice witnessed to by brother lawrence, i think i have attuned myself to His abiding Presence, thus in some way i show-up…and yet i also witness to His Presence manifested in some powerful awe-inspiring way, the repercussions (or fruit) thereof witness to God’s action…related to the second is that the central maryland vineyard has been in a season of re-digging the wells and calling them by the former names (prophetically flowing from Isaac and his servants actions in Genesis 26)…because we feel the wells have been clogged…]

Then he said to Him, "If Your presence does not go with us, do not lead us up from here. "For how then can it be known that I have found favor in Your sight, I and Your people? Is it not by Your going with us, so that we, I and Your people, may be distinguished from all the other people who are upon the face of the earth?"
Exodus 33:15-16

but coming back to the thing provoking me from psalm 42: what would i do to appear before the presence of God? (and from exodus 33: how would i know if God's Presence goes with us...minus the daily cloud and the pillar of fire by night?)

i mean, i think i get the sons of korah and their meaning here, as at that time they are speaking about the place where the ark of God is...with which the manifest Presence of God was known to reside and abide in the tabernacle/temple...

but what about here-and-now?

hmmm, i realize i have been using the word 'manifest' in relationship to all this and as some special modifier of the 'Presence of God' without thinking that through...

so when considering 'manifest' i think of a couple things:

Webster's definition:
Middle English, from Anglo-French or Latin; Anglo-French manifeste, from Latin manifestus caught in the act, flagrant, obvious, perhaps from manus + -festus (akin to Latin infestus hostile); readily perceived by the senses and especially by the sight: OBVIOUS

i like that definition summed up: OBVIOUS (although my personal preference might be ‘caught in the act’)

in scripture - in the Tanakh – the word is 'shekinah' or שכינה

although many translators almost automatically jump to 'glory' or 'light' when they hear 'shekinah', yet the hebrew word comes from the root: to settle, inhabit, or dwell...

in the new testament, specifically in Luke 2:9, we get this:

"and an angel of the Lord suddenly stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them; and they were terribly frightened..."

terribly frightened...that is definitely one of my own responses in the here-and-now to God's manifest Presence in the midst of His people...

but there is also the wonder and thirst and the anticipation spoken of in psalm 42...and i am reminded even in my very good and very healthy sabbath of solitude and silence that most often God manifests His Presence to His people, both gathered and scattered…on the mountain-top and walking through the valley of the shadow…together

let it be, Lord...let it be

And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast.
1 Peter 5:10