I love getting questions from people in the congregation I pastor. To me, it says that they aren’t content with the status quo. They are thinking. They are hungry. And they want to work toward a more thoroughly biblical worldview.
I received a question from a church member this morning. They asked me to elaborate a bit more about “experiencing God.” I talked a bit in church last night about experiencing God in a revival on Mid-America Baptist Theological Seminary’s campus in 1995. I talked of how I experienced God so tangibly on that occasion and realized that there is so much more of Him to enjoy than I previously imagined. Then, I talked about how I attended the Asbury Revival in Wilmore last year and did not experience the same thing. The question essentially asked me to elaborate on this.
Since I believe my answer might help others (or at least give them something to chew on), I will provide my answer below:
Some Christians get nervous when others talk about “feeling the Lord’s presence.” They think it wanders away from Scripture and into the “dangerous territory” of personal experience.
However, I am convinced that if we never “feel” anything for the Lord, if we never “feel” the Lord’s presence, then that may indicate a problem we need to address. After all, if I tell my wife that I love her but never feel anything for her, something is desperately wrong, right? We don’t base our marriage on feelings, but feelings are important. It is the same way in our relationship with God.
If we study the Scriptures, we will realize that God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, demonstrated that they have emotions. Jesus grieved, wept, had compassion, and so much more. The Holy Spirit can be grieved and rejoice (He causes us to sing if we are filled with Him – see Ephesians 5:18-19). So, since we are created in God’s image, and since God has emotions, it is perfectly right for us to desire to experience emotions when we encounter Him.
In fact, if Moses didn’t enjoy the Lord’s presence, he probably wouldn’t have asked to experience the Lord’s glory (Exodus 33:18). If David didn’t enjoy the Lord’s presence, he wouldn’t have thirsted after the Lord “as a deer pants after the streams of water” (Psalm 42:1-2). It was the joy of the Lord’s presence that kept them wanting more of Him.
I’m not saying we should chase after emotions. Sometimes, the feelings of love in a marriage will grow cold. But if a husband and wife continue to relate to each other in the way that Scripture commands, those feelings of love should come back. In the same way, there will be plenty of times when we don’t feel like we “love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength.” But if we continue to pursue Him in His Word, live a life of obedience, confess sin, and live with a conscious awareness of His presence with us, those feelings of love and joy in the Lord’s presence will almost certainly come back.
Now, to answer your specific question:
You asked: “When you stated something about feeling the presence of God at those revivals, does that mean to the exclusion of other instances or just that those instances were different??”
As Christians who believe the Bible, we are convinced that God is omnipresent. That means that God is completely present everywhere at all times. There is no place that God is not in His fullness.
But this doctrine does not mean that God is everywhere in the same way. There have been places where God showed up for a season, and those places were extra special. When God appeared to Moses in the burning bush (Exodus 3:4-5), I can only imagine how special that experience was for Moses! We also realize that God would call Moses and the Israelites back to that same location since it was at the base of Mt. Sinai (Exodus 3:12). That’s where Moses would cry out to see God’s glory (Exodus 33:18). That place was special because God was there to bless!
When King David wrote Psalm 27:4 (see below), it seems that he wasn’t motivated by his obligation to religious duty. It sounds as if He enjoyed being in the Lord’s presence and wanted more of it. And the specific, special place where he experienced the Lord’s presence was in the tabernacle.
Psalm 27:4 (CSB): “I have asked one thing from the LORD; it is what I desire: to dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, gazing on the beauty of the LORD and seeking him in his temple.”
So, I do believe that there are specific places where God temporarily manifests his presence to bless. On those occasions, some (not all) Christians will enjoy being in that place. In the Bible, we have already observed that a few of those special locations were near and on Mt. Sinai, as well as in the Tabernacle and Temple.
But, as I shared last night, I experienced God’s presence in the 1995 revival in a way more powerful than I ever thought possible. My heart was ready, and I thoroughly enjoyed what God revealed to me about Himself during that time. But as I also mentioned last night, I went to the Asbury revival last year, and others seemed to be thoroughly enjoying God’s presence while I struggled. I believe that God had “shown up” in a special way to bless people with His presence, but people like me had faulty receptors so my experience was much different.
It does seem to me that God has special times and places where He blesses His followers with His presence. But, if we “pursue Him with all of our heart” (Jeremiah 29:13), we can enjoy Him in our private lives even though it may seem that He isn’t showing up to bless in any public way. In other words, we don’t have to be “God-hunters” (like tornado hunters), always chasing Him to whatever location He may bless with His presence. We can cultivate our own walk with Him that is deeply personal and allows us to enjoy Him wherever we are, even if those around us are not enjoying Him.
One book that I have found helpful on this topic is John Piper’s “Desiring God.” It is a bit lengthy and requires the reader to stretch their mind as they consider various Scriptures and their implications. But it does a good job of unpacking what it means to enjoy God and why we absolutely must do so.
I hope this helps.
Matt’s Musings 