Presence of God

Sometimes we want to go back to when the presence of God felt so new and exciting, to when our evidence of His closeness was an overflow of emotion within ourselves. Sometimes we may even question how close (or far from) God we are by the lack of those feelings.

The truth is…God’s Word. His Word says that He will draw close to those who draw close to Him (James 4:8); that He will never leave us nor forsake us (Heb 13:5, Deut 31:6, 8); that His Spirit will abide with us forever (John 14:16); and that we are made one with Him (John 17:21).

Though these may not always “feel” like the truth, they are. I heard it put very well earlier: that the emotional overflow of the presence of God is the “honeymoon” stage. Those feelings as evidence of God’s presence appeal to the person that is ruled by emotions. When we 1st come to Christ (or back to Him), we are emotionally driven creatures. As we grow in Him, we become less ruled by emotions. To declare that we are far from God or that He has left us because we don't "feel" His Spirit as we used to, is a contradiction to God's Word. It allows the seed of doubt to be planted in our hearts.

Just as a marriage is at first overflowing with giddy love feelings, then as it grows becomes more grounded in trust, companionship, etc., so is our marriage to Christ. As our relationship with Him matures, it is less flooded with emotions and we become one—our heart is His heart, our mind is His mind. It is now our spirit that follows Christ, not our emotions. Yes, God will still bless us during prayer time, worship, praise, etc. with the overflow of emotion, but that is no longer necessary to draw us to Him.

Sam made a good point the other night—as our bodies build a tolerance to a particular drug, so our spirits do to the presence of God. This is not a bad thing. The Bible tells us not to be drunk with wine but filled with the Spirit (Eph 5:18), as though these two are comparable. Well, the more often a person drinks, the less evident the “drunkenness” becomes. This state has become the norm. So it is as we mature in Christ. We learn to walk more in the Spirit and less in the flesh. Instead of feeling different when in the Spirit, we feel different when in the flesh—uncomfortable, like something is wrong, altogether “yucky” inside. We seek quickly a remedy and that is to get back in the Spirit, our now normal state of being.

Growing in Christ, we have no need to be run by the emotional overflow, but are rooted in a faith and trust that God’s Word is true and hence, up, down, or turned around, He is still with us. He will always lead us through just as He did in the “honeymoon” stage. Once we accept this truth, the seed of doubt is uprooted.

“Say not thou, What is the cause that the former days were better than these? for thou dost not inquire wisely concerning this.” Eccl 7:10