Have you ever been in the presence of someone famous? Several years back, my wife and I got the opportunity to meet the brothers, Bo and Bear, from the band NEEDTOBREATHE. My wife had won us tickets to a private acoustic set with these 2 and about 50 other people. It was an awesome experience given that NEEDTOBREATHE is our favorite band. Afterwards we got to take a picture with both of them and all I could think about was, “What am I going to say so it makes an impact on them, so they remember me forever and we become best friends?” Yes, you can judge me. Needless to say, I did not come up with an awe-inspiring Tweet-sized phrase. Rather, I just ended up just being awkward and totally uncool.
Ok so what’s my point. Anytime we are in the presence of someone famous we feel overwhelmed. Now that’s just a drop-in comparison to God. I mean God is God.
He embodies everything great, good and AWESOME! He is all powerful! He spoke the world into creation! If you want to be overwhelmed by the greatness of God, then go and read Job 38-42.
Sometimes I feel like the presence of God is some phrase modern day Christians made up to sound more spiritual. You know the people, “The presence of God is in the place.” Or “I just need to be in the presence of God.”
What do these statements even mean? They sound great and could sell tons of coffee mugs (anybody want to buy a coffee mug…) but what does it practically mean? The presence of God?
It may be that I am not very spiritual but neither of those phrases make sense to me.
They do not make sense because any time that I have been “in the presence of God” I feel overwhelmed and completely wrecked. I am confronted with my own sinfulness and brokenness before a holy and mighty God.
I believe the issue is that we want the presence of God without being present with God.
One who has spent time in the presence of God comes away from those experiences changed.
“I know nothing which can so comfort the should; so calm the swelling billows of sorrow and grief; so speak peace to the winds of trial, as a devout musing upon the subject of the Godhead.”
-C. H. Spurgeon.
Here’s why: The people I read about experiencing the presence of God in the Bible are absolutely freaked out.
Go back to Adam and Eve…wait that is a bad example since they were scared of God’s presence because they knew that they were in trouble. (Side note: God’s presence is frightening to those who are not submissive to God.)
Let’s go to Moses and the burning bush (Exodus 3) or Isaiah’s encounter of God in a vision (Isaiah 6) or the fear of the Israelites when God ascended on Mount Sinai (Exodus 19). They all were afraid. And why wouldn’t they be for they were in the presence of God but even then, only some of His presence for remember what God said to Moses in Exodus 33:20
“you cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live.”
Say what!? I think Isaiah had the right response when he encountered the presence of God, “Woe to me!” (Isaiah 6:5).
The presence of God should create fear in our hearts because He is powerful! (Remember the story of Uzzah in 2 Samuel 6:1-7? He was struck dead for touching the Ark of the Covenant as result from all the disobedience to God that goes on in this story. But you get the idea. God and sin cannot be together. Sin always loses.) The fact that God is so powerful should cause us to fear Him as well as humble us. I mean who are we to approach God? We are finite, sinful, broken creatures who are helpless on our own.
Yet, God allows us to be in His presence. No, rather He makes a way so we sinful beings can dwell in His presence.
14 “Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. 15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin. 16 Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.” (Hebrews 4:14-16)
We can only enter into the presence of God because of Jesus’ work on the cross. Not only that we can approach the “throne of grace with CONFIDENCE!” We have no need to worry that we will be struck down or condemned for Jesus’ blood has made the way.
I think the issue that I have with people who talk about “God’s presence being in this place” is that they seem to say it so nonchalantly. Or like God showed up because they did something to bring him about like a genie. The people who say this may argue with me and say I am way off. That’s fine but my point is still the fact that the presence of God is not something to be taken lightly.
If God’s presence is truly in a place, then we should fall flat on our face in reverent worship before Him. That I think is the only response we should have.
12 “Because of Christ and our faith in him, we can now come boldly and confidently into God’s presence. 13 So please don’t lose heart because of my trials here. I am suffering for you, so you should feel honored.14 When I think of all this, I fall to my knees and pray to the Father, 15 the Creator of everything in heaven and on earth.” (Ephesians 3:12-14)