THE POWER OF GOD’S PRESENCE
MOSES HAD A BURNING BUSH EXPERIENCE with God that changed his life trajectory, and although that was the only instance in the Bible when God chose to draw a man’s attention to His presence by igniting a bush (that wasn’t even charred by the flame), that mysterious appearance is often burned into our mental image of God. Nowadays, when we hear people in church say they sense a powerful presence of God, we associate His presence with worship songs, prayer, and listening to sermons. To be sure, these activities, as well as being in a church service or a fellowship group can help increase our awareness of Him, but God is not a sleeping genie we rouse on demand.
“We cannot attain the presence of God. We’re already totally in the presence of God. What’s missing is awareness.”
Occasionally, we can be mistaken to think that God only appears when He has something important to tell us like how Moses and Elijah heard His voice on mountains. Still, others infer from the verses like The Lord is close to the broken-hearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit (Psalm 34:18) for the idea that He gives priority of appearance when we are down in the dumps. We also need to be careful not to treat God as an insecure deity who takes pleasure in spiels about our immovable faith and gratefulness instead of heart-wrenching truths when we are facing gutting realities.
In truth, God’s presence many forms and elicits different responses from us. Depending on the situation, we may sense His presence as an indulgent Father who lets us catch sight of a stunning natural phenomenon or snag a quiet spot in a busy café, or as a counselor who empathically listens to our tales of heartache and nudges us to do the right thing, or as an inexplicable feeling of hope in dire circumstances.
Regardless of our personalities, our response to God grows out of our relationship with Him. Like all human relationships that thrive on the reciprocity of pleasure and love, that deepen with authentic self-disclosure, and that endure with the mutual desire for time together, our relationship with God is not to be one-sided or one-dimensional. Over time, we become more familiar with how He presents Himself on different occasions and how we should respond to Him.
We need God’s presence, whether there is a global crisis or not, and whether life has thrown us a curveball or not. On a day-to-day basis, God appears as the unseen hand that breaks a fall, as the invisible but always present member of the family we are mindful of, as the counter-intuitive inner voice of counsel or an unusual inner composure in the face of something that would normally make us go berserk.
Today, God’s presence is even more crucial because we live in a world that is more complex than before and we have never been this way before. We need His presence to navigate major life transitions and challenges so that we can reach new milestones in our personal growth, livelihood, and relationships.
The book of Joshua provides a riveting read of Joshua’s life from the time God called him to take over from Moses and to lead the Israelites to the Promised Land until his burial there. It records all the incredible feats that Joshua accomplished as the new leader because of the power in the presence of God with him. We see how the Jordan River stopped flowing from upstream for the Israelites to cross over on foot further down. The walls of Jericho collapsed without a single sledgehammer or earthquake. And then, the sun and the moon stood still till the Israelites won over their enemies. Nothing was easy or had any precedent for Joshua and the Israelites, but God’s presence was the game-changer for them all.
There’s nothing mythical and mystical about God’s presence that makes it out of human reach. It exists like the air we breathe that sustains us, and as the wind beneath our wings that keep us going. As we transition through the different life stages, life events, and career changes, we will face different battles and challenges that push us past our limits where we can no longer rely on past experience to guide us.
We are living in unprecedented times but we have a God who knows the end from the beginning and what is still to come (Isaiah 46:10). Just as He promised Joshua, at the threshold of a new epoch when the Israelites would eventually enter God’s promised land, His promise still stands for all believers today: As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you. (Joshua 1:5)
How’s that for thriving in the 21st century!
