Periodically, I hear from Christians who are concerned that they don’t sense or feel the presence of God lately. Perhaps they feel a lack of joy, lack of spiritual illumination or insight, or lack of God-given direction in their life. If you experience something similar, you are not alone. I’ve been a Christ-follower for about forty years and I’ve had these types of thoughts and feelings at times, pondering stuff like: ‘I don’t think God is hanging out with me lately. Where is God when I need Him? Why do I feel like God is far away from me right now?’ In the Holy Bible, David and possibly other Psalm writers experienced something similar to this (David: Ps. 13:1, 22:1; unidentified authors: Ps. 10:1, 44:24, 88:14).
Let’s first consider three biblical truths about the presence of God; the omnipresence of God, the manifested presence of God, and the redemptive presence of God. Secondly, let’s consider why God’s people sense the diminished or absent presence of God and what it is that they can do to stay in tune with God’s presence.
A. Three biblical truths about the presence of God
1) The omnipresence of God
In latin, the prefix ‘omni’ means all, every, or unlimited. And the root word ‘present’ means close to, near to, here, or indwelling.
Here is a classic Bible passage referring to God’s omnipresence.
Psalm 139:7-12 ESV Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence? 8 If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there! 9 If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, 10 even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me. 11 If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me, and the light about me be night,” 12 even the darkness is not dark to you; the night is bright as the day, for darkness is as light with you.
Not only was God especially present in David’s anointed life as king of God’s chosen people, God was and is also present everywhere apart from David.
Jer. 23:24b ESV Do I not fill heaven and earth? declares the Lord.
God fills heaven and earth sort of like the ocean fills a bucket which has been submerged in it a mile down. The bucket is full of the ocean but the ocean surrounds the bucket in all directions. And of course, God is unimaginably bigger and greater than any ocean.
God’s omnipresence means that God is everywhere-present and is not limited by space in His actions and ability. The does not mean God is everything and everything is God. God is not the wall or the tree or the cow. God is the eternal supreme sovereign all-mighty creator spiritual being, transcendent far above and greater than His creation yet also immanent in that He is personal and we can know Him personally by His grace through faith in Christ.
With God’s omnipresence comes His guidance, protection, and comfort toward His people (see Ps. 139:10). Wherever God’s people are, the Lord’s hand is upon them. Psalm 46:1-2a ESV God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear though the earth gives way
David acknowledged that God was always watching over David and thus it was impossible to do anything in which God is not aware of what’s happening.
Job 34:21-22 ESV For his eyes are on the ways of a man, and he sees all his steps. 22 There is no gloom or deep darkness where evildoers may hide themselves.
2 Chron. 16:9a ESV For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth
God’s awareness/sight is forward and backward, up and down, all around, in all directions. He sees everything going on because He is everywhere present. Because this is true, there is no hiding from God whether you are receiving God’s mercy (Jonah) or judgment (Amos 9:1-3) and you can never totally be stranded or lost somewhere where God does not notice you. For example, Hagar was upset and ran away, thinking she was alone in the wilderness when the Angel of the Lord spoke to her. After that encounter, she called the name of the Lord who spoke to her, You-Are-the-God-Who-Sees; .. Gen. 16:13; and our God certainly sees you and me everywhere and anywhere we are, and He loves us, and cares about us, and desires a relationship with us for eternity.
2) The manifested presence of God
God is a spiritual being who sometimes manifests (reveals) His awesome presence in special localized ways. For example, in the Bible book of Exodus we read about examples of God manifesting His presence in various forms for the sake of humans having more awareness of His localized presence. God showed His glory backside while covering Moses in the cleft of a rock (Ex. 33). God signified His presence through a guiding pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night (Ex. 13). God’s radiant cloud-like presence in the Holy Tabernacle, sometimes called His Shekinah glory, was a manifested local presence of God (Ex. 40).
Jonah tried to leave the localized presence of God (Jonah 1:1-4), perhaps at the temple in Israel where God possibly spoke to Jonah. Jonah said this later, 2:4 ..I have been cast out of Your sight; Yet I will look again toward Your holy temple. This was from Jonah’s perspective and referred to God’s special temple presence.
The greatest manifestation of God here on earth has been the incarnated eternal Son of God, Jesus Christ (John 1:1-18, Phili. 2:4-8). God became flesh and after He, Jesus Christ, died for our sins He raised from the dead in a resurrected body fit for eternity. Over a forty day period before His ascension He made several appearances in His resurrected body to some of His true followers.
God has manifested Himself in special localized ways at times but this doesn’t mean God is contained.
2 Chron. 2:6b NKJV .. since heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain Him? Who am I then, that I should build Him a temple, except to burn sacrifice before Him?
Isaiah 66:1 ESV Thus says the LORD: “Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool; what is the house that you would build for me, and what is the place of my rest?
Stephen cited this passage before the Sanhedrin to point out their error in limiting God to a temple made with hands (Acts 7).
3) The redemptive presence of God
We are in need of redemption by God, our holy Creator, because He is perfectly Holy and we are unholy due to sin in our lives. Sin separates us from God. There is an alienation, a gap, between us and God because God is far away in nature and character from unredeemed sinners. God is without sin and God’s heaven is without sin and we can’t be in a right relationship with God or enter God’s heaven without God redeeming us, without God saving us from our sin separation with Him, without God saving us from His wrath upon sin in our lives.
Fortunately, God has revealed that He is near to sinners. Acts 17:27 ESV that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us,
God is near to sinners and He is the One who can close the gap by graciously drawing us unto Him to save us from our spiritual separation from Him. God has one plan for this major eternally significant sin problem we all have. It is Jesus Christ, the Son of God Savior we all need. We can be reconciled to our Holy Creator through the perfect God-man, Jesus Christ who came without sin, did not sin, and praise God, He took all our sins upon Himself on the cross to pay the divine penalty for our sins. And on the third day, He rose in victory over sin and death and now salvation from our sins is offered to us by God’s grace through faith in Christ as Savior and Lord.
When the sinner cries out to God, “Oh God, forgive me and save me in Jesus’ name,” He or she does not call God down from heaven. God is already near and at work calling the sinner to Himself.
God is looking for hearts to dwell in and this is what He does when a person is saved by Christ, the sinner receives the redemptive presence of God. God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit are present in the lives of those who are redeemed in Christ:
John 14:23 ESV Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.
Mt. 28:20b ESV And behold, I (Jesus Christ) am with you always, to the end of the age.”
Rom. 5:5b, 8:9 ESV… the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. 9 You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him.
The Holy Spirit assures the redeemed of God’s redeeming presence.
2 Corinthians 1:22 ESV and who has also put his seal on us and given us his Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee.
Rom. 8:16 ESV The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God,
Spiritually, God indwells His people; those who believe upon Christ as their Savior and Lord. If you are not a Christ-follower, I encourage you to check out this blog entry about God’s Plan for True Life/Eternal Life: http://mikesmorals.blogspot.com/2013/09/great-news-gods-plan-for-true-life.html).
God’s Word teaches us about the omnipresence of God, the manifested presence of God, and the redemptive presence of God. Now, let’s consider some
B. Reasons for sensing the diminished/absent presence of God and how to stay in tune with God’s presence
People try searching for God throughout their lifetime often not realizing God was and is nearby all along. Jacob, after a dream revelation of a ladder from earth to heaven, said, Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it.” Gen. 28:17 ESV
In heaven, God’s redeemed will experience a full awareness of God’s awesome presence. For now, on this side of eternity, our awareness of God falls short of that. This is because of many factors. For example,
* God’s plan for our redemption and redemptive living involve faith (Eph. 2:8-9, Gal. 3:11). God doesn’t constantly dangle miracle activity in our lives and around us to grab our attention. He gives us sufficient revelation and expects us to believe Him and His Word and have faith in Him (Heb. 11:6). God is to be the object of our saving and living faith.
* Feelings and circumstances are not as important as God’s revealed truth through His Scripture. Feelings come and go, are up and down. God’s Word is truth and everlasting. (John 17:17, 1 Pet. 1:25, Isa. 40:8). We are to rejoice in the Lord always and be thankful in all circumstances (1 Thes. 5:16, 18). In everything we are to offer up our prayer requests to God and we are to have God-honoring thoughts (Phil. 4:6-8). You can count on God and His Word. Don’t allow feelings and circumstances to be your master, idol, crutch, or hindrance to God’s truth for your life.
* Distractions and lesser priorities get in the way of our awareness of God’s presence (Luke 10:41-42). We need to keep our eyes of faith fixed on Christ (Heb. 12:2). Life is not about you and me as much as it is about God! Our focus needs to be on God more than ourselves or anyone or anything else. We must keep learning and being reminded of God’s revelation to us through Scripture. Study about who God is, how He works, and how we can have a growing relationship with Him.
* We may have unconfessed sins and be non-repentant of our sins (Ps. 66:18, Isa. 59:2, 1 John 1:9). Agree with God about your sins, accept His forgiveness, and ask Him to help you turn from sinful living and turn to living a God-honoring life.
* We experience spiritual warfare (Eph. 6:10-18). The enemies of God (and weakness of our flesh) interfere with God’s revelation of His presence. They don’t want you to be in tune with God’s presence. They would rather you think God doesn’t exist, doesn’t care, and/or is far away from you which is counter to Scripture. Trust God and His revealed truth and learn to experience victory in Christ over temptations to sin.
* Perhaps God is testing you. He tests His people in order to develop our faith dependence upon Him and develop our character, perseverance, and endurance (Jam. 1:2-4, Rom. 5:3-5, 1 Pet. 1:3-7). Learn to redeem your circumstances and testing to the glory of God that His will be done.
* Perhaps you lack spiritual community with other Christ-followers. We are designed for relationships, the primary one with God our Creator, Savior, and Lord, but also relationships with people, especially Christ-followers through a local church commitment. Cultivate spiritual koinonia (fellowship) togetherness with other Christ-followers. Do some Christian life together. Exercise the ‘one another’ commands and principles of Scripture. Don’t do the Christian life without important uplifting God-honoring relationships with maturing Christ-followers.
We regularly need to slow down from our busy lives and re-align our priorities with cultivating spiritual intimacy with our Creator Savior Lord.
Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!
Psalm 46:10 ESV
Stay committed to quality spiritual disciplines in your individual life that include things like quality time in God’s Word, praying to God, confession of sin, solitude, fasting, praise, thanksgiving, and worship. Don’t give up on or stray away from these disciplines even when you are ‘not feeling’ God’s presence.
Ask God in prayer to help you search the biblical truth about God’s presence, to believe it, to understand it better, and to apply it to your life regardless of your feelings, emotions, and circumstances.
Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.
Jam. 4:8a ESV
You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.
Jer. 29:13 ESV
Fear not, fret not, and don’t be discouraged because God has told His people,
“I will never leave you nor forsake you!” Heb. 13:5b ESV
What are your thoughts on the presence of God and how God’s people can stay in tune with His presence?
Mike
