.png)
I know the Lord is always with me. I will not be shaken, for he is right beside me. No wonder my heart is glad, and I rejoice. My body rests in safety… You will show me the way of life, granting me the joy of your presence and the pleasures of living with you forever. Psalm 16:8-9, 11
How many of you can say that you have experienced the Lord with you, right beside you? How many of you have experienced God’s presence in some real way at some point in your life? Maybe it was a physical feeling that resonated through your body because you knew God was there. Maybe you got emotional in worship and found yourself crying, or so overcome by emotion you raised your hands in the air. Maybe it was a profound sense of peace when your life was completely out of control, or a sense of God’s direction that moved you forward when for months, or years, you had been feeling stuck.
How many of you have felt the presence of God here today? It’s ok if you haven’t, I’m not sure I have either. I’ll be honest, there are many weeks that I have gone through not 1 but 2 services of worship and not experienced the presence of God in some real way. I trust God has been there, but I can’t say that I felt it. There have been seasons of my life that I have not felt God’s presence, so if you haven’t felt God here today, or maybe ever, you aren’t alone. In fact, we are all in good company
David, who wrote Psalm 16 and experienced God so powerfully at times, was also the one who wrote, How long, Lord? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? Psalm 13:1 At times David didn’t feel God’s presence and wondered if God was even there.
Paul, the man who experienced the miraculous power of God when prison doors opened and chains fell away, was the same man who toiled away as a tentmaker for 14 years before God moved in his life.
And we can’t forget about Jesus. The one who walked with God daily, the one who was actually God in the flesh, asked God why He wasn’t there for Him when He needed Him the most. My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
Today we are going to finish our series, ever wonder why; by asking, why don’t we feel God’s presence? Is it our fault? Are we doing something wrong in how we approach God in worship or in life? Is it God’s fault? Does God not want to reveal His presence to us for some reason? Is it the church’s fault because we didn’t pick the right music for you today? Were our prayers not filled with enough passion or focused on the right things? Why don’t we always feel the presence of God? While I can’t give you all the answers to that question, let me provide a few answers that we can reflect on.
1. We are over-sensationalizing God’s presence.
Too many times we think that to experience God’s presence means feeling something physical or emotional or supernatural. Too many people think that unless they have some kind of tangible sign or physical feeling, God is not with them. The same was true in Jesus’ day. The people then were also looking for a sign, some kind of miracle or physical experience, to let them know that Jesus was the Son of God. Wanting this kind of affirmation is nothing new and I’ll confess, I have wanted it at times, and at times, I still do.
At a point in my life when I was really aimless, I asked God to send me a postcard in the mail telling me what I needed to do. I thought, God can figure out how to send me something through the mail, but I never got that postcard, letter or package. I can also tell you that when I was commissioned and ordained and had Bishops of the church place their hands on me and pray for me, I didn’t feel God’s presence. I have served communion over 500 times in my life and I can’t remember any specific time when the power of God showed up in some supernatural way.
I can remember the time I served the juice before the bread and really confused the congregation, and the time that half the trays didn’t have juice, and the ushers looked at me confused while the ladies who filled the juice turned all red as they sat in the choir loft. And I remember the time I showed up on Sunday and there were no elements at all so I ran to Sheetz because it was all that was open and bought the only thing that was red or purple. It was a cranberry/grape drink infused with ginseng, and it didn’t taste at all like grape juice. I’m not sure those were signs of God’s presence, but they make great stories. While we are always looking for and wanting a sign, they don’t always come and for good reason: if we always felt God, we wouldn’t need faith.
If every moment of life, and every second of our time in worship was filled with a tangible, physical, and supernatural feeling of God’s presence, we wouldn’t need faith. Faith is the assurance of things hoped for and the conviction of things unseen, and unfelt. Faith is knowing that God is with us because God has said He will be with us whether we feel God’s presence or not. Let me also say that because we don’t experience God in profound ways all the time, it makes the moments we do experience God that much more powerful and precious.
While I didn’t feel the presence of God at my commissioning or ordination, I have experienced God’s presence in real, physical and spiritual ways many times in life. One of the most recent ones was on my trip to Israel. While seeing the things that Jesus would have seen, and walking in the places Jesus walked was inspiring, there was one clear moment when I felt the presence of God. We were at the Wailing Wall at night. The Wailing Wall is located on the site of the ancient Temple, and some say that the wall is in the exact location of the back wall of the Holy of Holies.
As I approached the wall, I was overwhelmed with awe, but when I put my hands on the wall there was a jolt that went through my body like electricity. My entire body trembled for what seemed like minutes as I stood there in the presence of God. I had never had an experience like it before or since. It was overwhelming to think that I was standing in the presence of God.
The next day we again visited the wall and I did the exact same thing. I approached the wall the same way and placed my hands on the wall and felt… nothing. No jolts, no electricity, no trembling. I have to say I was a little disappointed, but the reality was that God was still there and God was teaching me to walk by faith and not by sight. I need to walk with assurance that God is there and not always looking for a sign or a feeling that comes with God’s presence.
Just because we don’t feel God or experience physically, emotionally or spiritually, doesn’t mean that God is not with us. God is always with us because God has promised to always be with us and our feelings don’t determine God’s presence. Like David we can say, I will not be shaken because God is with me because of our faith and not because of our feelings. .
2. Our hearts have become hard and closed to the things of God. Jesus said,
You will be ever hearing but never understanding; you will be ever seeing but never perceiving. For this people’s heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Matthew 13:14-15
It doesn’t take much for our hearts to get calloused and hard. If we have been hurt by someone and have decided we aren’t going to allow anyone to love or care for us again, our hearts will grow hard and we will push God away along with people. Lingering doubts and fears can cause our hearts to grow hard. Walking away from God’s word and prayer and worship can cause our hearts to grow hard. But the #1 cause of a hard heart is ongoing and unconfessed sin.
When we know there is sin in our life and we are choosing to ignore it, or tell ourselves that it’s not that bad, or that it’s not as bad as what others are doing, it hardens our hearts and freezes God out.
Pastor Craig Groeschel uses an analogy to talk about how sin can harden our hearts to God’s presence that might be helpful He says, if it is cold outside, you bundle up with long underwear, a long sleeve shirt, sweater and fleece lined jeans, and then you put on your snow suit, hat, gloves, and scarf . You put on so many layers that you end up looking like Ralphie’s brother Randy in the movie “A Christmas Story”. Not only can’t you put your arms down, but you can’t feel the cold. The reality is that you don’t feel anything.
If we are covered in sin, sin we know is not good for us, and then on top of that sin we layer pride or indifference or apathy, we aren’t going to feel God. If we aren’t feeling God’s presence, we might want to reflect on our lives and ask God to show us where we might need to confess and repent of some sin. Has jealousy taken hold of our heart? Do we struggle with pride or anger or lust? Have we grown comfortable holding on to bitterness and not forgiving someone who has hurt us? Any of these things can cause our heart to grow cold and keep us from feeling God’s presence.
3, Maybe God is trying to draw us closer.
I don’t think God hides from us so that we will seek Him. God doesn’t play these kinds of childish games, but God does want us to seek Him, and He says that when we seek Him with all our heart, we will find Him and when we find Him , we will experience Him in a variety of ways.
After the people of Israel had seen their nation defeated, God’s Temple torn down, and then been forced to live in exile in a foreign land, they wondered if God was still with them. They didn’t see God and they didn’t feel God’s presence. It was during this season of their lives, however, when God told them, I am still with you.
I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you,” declares the Lord, “and will bring you back from captivity. I will gather you from all the nations and places where I have banished you,” declares the Lord, “and will bring you back to the place from which I carried you into exile.” Jeremiah 29:11-14
When we seek God with all our heart, we will find Him. Not only will we find God, but we will begin to see God’s purpose and plan for us. When we seek God, we will find Him and feel Him moving us back into a relationship with Him where we will hear, know, and feel His presence more personally. It was Israel’s experience in exile that made them truly long for God and turn to seek Him more intentionally. While God doesn’t cause dark times in our lives, when they come, it is an opportunity for us to seek the Lord.
If you aren’t feeling God’s presence today, it’s an opportunity for you to seek the Lord. It’s an opportunity to return to God’s word, and worship, and prayer, with the expectation that God will speak and move. It’s an opportunity to examine your hearts and confess your sin and return to walking with Jesus in faithfulness and integrity. It’s a moment for us to open ourselves up and ask God to help us hear Him, see Him, and most importantly of all, know that He is with us.
Just because we don’t feel God’s presence doesn’t mean that God is absent. We can’t trust our emotions to tell us God is with us, we have to walk by faith. We also need to look for God in the ordinary moments of life and not always the spiritual or what we think of as holy moments. While I felt the presence of God at the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem, I have also experienced God’s presence in Bible study when a passage spoke to my situation, or a fresh meaning opened up.
I have experienced God’s presence when the right song came on the radio at the right time for what I am going through. I have felt the presence of God through a well-timed card, note or word from a friend. God longs to meet us in the ordinary moments of life and to tell us in those ordinary moments that He is there, He is here.
This month we have an opportunity to help a child experience the presence of God. Through Operation Christmas Child, a box is given to a child and there are so many stories of boxes being given to children who got exactly what they needed because God put that box in their life. The box also lets a child know they are seen and loved by God and God’s people. For a child who has never gotten a gift, the gift of a shoebox might be the sign to them that God is with them and always will be. It might be the experience that helps them build a faith of trusting that God is with them whether they can feel Him or not. We can help give this amazing gift to a child who is asking, why don’t I feel God with me.
Let me finish with this. For many people, this is going to be a stressful and anxious week. We might not see God in the world around us or feel His presence in all the chaos of the elections. Depending on the outcome, you might think that God did not answer your prayers, and you might be worried about the stability and unity of our nation and if God is still with us. We all need to remember that just because we may not see or feel God’s presence this week doesn’t mean that God is not present. God is right here. Just when we think God is NOWHERE, we find out that God is actually NOW HERE, and He has been here all along.
So with David we can say, I know the Lord is always with me. I will not be shaken, for He is right beside me. Psalm 16:8
Next Steps
Why don’t I feel God’s presence?
Think of a time when you experienced the presence of God.
● What was going on in your life?
● Was it during a time of worship? A holy moment or an ordinary moment?
● Why do you think He made Himself known to you in that moment?
Has there been a time, or season, when you did not feel the presence of God?
● How long did that season last?
● What was it like to feel far from God?
● Are you still in that season today?
3 reasons we might not be experiencing God’s presence:
1. We are over-sensationalizing God’s presence.
● Why do we think God’s presence should always come with a tangible feeling or a miraculous experience?
● What kind of sign or feeling do you most often look for? Why?
If we always felt God’s presence, we wouldn't need faith.
● What does it mean to walk by faith and not by sight?
● How have you learned to do this during your life?
2. Our hearts have become hard.
Read Matthew 13:14-15.
Reflect on what may be causing your heart to be hard.
● Have you been hurt by others so you have closed yourself to any kind of love or relationship?
● Is there unconfessed sin in your life?
● Are you too focused on your performance as a follower of Jesus rather than the reality of God’s presence?
3. God wants to draw us closer to Him.
Read Jeremiah 29:13-14. Who was God speaking to in this passage and where were they living?
● How have difficult times caused you to more intentionally seek God’s presence?
● How have difficult times drawn you closer to God even if you didn’t “feel” God’s presence.
● How can you seek God this week with all your heart?
Consider taking part in this year’s Operation Christmas Child to help children around the world experience the presence and love of God in both powerful and personal ways. For more information on how to be part of Operation Christmas Child, go to bellefontefaith.com/occ.
