We may not always sense the presence of the ever present God
who has promised never ever to leave or forsake His children... but He is
present. We experience God’s presence through our emotions... our feelings,
which also respond to life’s circumstances, coloring in the feelings we place
on events. Most of the time God’s presence is in the background of our consciousness,
an abiding peace and contentment... sort of a fearless “OKness” that we get so
accustom to we fail to consciously recognize it. Like our wedding ring,
glasses, or a mole on our arm we often fail to consciously recognize God’s
presence... for He is always present! There are times when God’s presence moves
into the forefront... foreground, of our consciousness... times of worship when
we are deliberately focused on His presence... times when His pursuit of our
heart bursts into our conscious thought, but much of the time we attend to life
unaware of God’s breath on our neck… His arms surrounding us….
A sixteenth century “Christian” coined the phrase “The dark
night of the soul” referring to the experience of God removing His presence
from an individual. One can only surmise how it would feel to suddenly lose
God’s moral compass, lose His peace and the joy of our blessed hope in Him, the
heavens becoming brass, our spiritual senses dull... our love and affection for
God gone blank... fellowship, worship, study, prayer of no interest. I question
whether this is the experience of a person in covenant relationship with the
God who simply won’t leave His children... and thus the “quotes” around
“Christian” as the person who coined this phrase. The dark night of the soul
may very well be of the soul’s own making, and, therefore, a volitional act
rather than a divine imposition... wholly preventable by human choice. We must
remember God has promised to draw near to those who draw near to Him, and to be
found by those who diligently seek Him – even to reward God seekers!. David
prayed that God would not remove His presence, constantly seeking the face of
God... living in a state of worship. The Apostle Paul made it his determined
purpose to “know Him” – the Greek here denoting intimate relationship --
placing intimacy with Jesus as the singular driving need of earth-life...
counting the “things” of life as dung. Brother Lawrence practiced the presence
of God during the mundane things of life, looking for opportunities to engage
God... making Christ the center of everything in his life. Jesus said it best,
as captured by the Amplified Bible:
“Dwell in Me, and I will dwell in you. Live in Me, and I will live in
you.” If that sounds like a conditional promise of His presence... it is!
Perhaps if we modeled our pursuit of God after the words of Jesus and these
godly men, God’s “background” presence would become a “foreground” reality...
DWELL IN ME, AND I WILL DWELL IN YOU
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