Dooley Noted: Seeking God’s presence and knowing He is near

I will never forget the day God visited my college campus. None of the songs we sang that day readily come to mind. The subject of the visiting preacher’s message is less familiar to me than what I had for dinner on this same date last year. What I do remember, though, is that God showed up in an unusual way during our campus wide revival.

Students began confessing their sins. Professors repented of their pride. Our president openly apologized to numerous faculty members. Testimonies of God’s goodness abounded. Personal pettiness and secret grudges seemed to dissipate in the shadow of God’s undeniable presence. No excessive displays for attention monopolized the time. Miraculous signs or gifts were the farthest things from my mind. Overwhelmed like never before, I wanted to hide my face as I considered just how near God was that day.

How do we explain moments like these?

Why does God seem so close we could touch Him at times?

Why does He seem so far away during other instances?

To answer these questions, allow me to make a distinction between the omnipresence of God and the manifest presence of God. The Lord’s omnipresence simply means that He is everywhere at the same time. The psalmist illustrates God’s inescapable presence: “Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence? If I ascend to heaven, You are there; If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, You are there ( Psalm 139:7-8).” The problem, though, is that God can be present while we remain totally unaware that He is with us. He may be everywhere, but He works differently in various places.

For example, is God is present in a church building when its doors are locked and the people are not there? Certainly! But is He present in the same way when His people gather in that building for worship? I hope not. The manifest presence of God, you see, refers to those unique moments when God makes Himself known in such a way that we cannot ignore Him.

Scripture offers plenty of instances of these rare but powerful moments of meeting with God. From the Lord walking with Adam and Eve in Eden’s Garden (Gen. 3:8) to His tearing of the veil of the temple and shaking the earth as Jesus died on the cross (Matt. 27:51), sometimes we cannot ignore the powerful presence of God even if we try. The older I get, the more I long for these moments to be more frequent in their regularity and duration.

Toward that end, the prophet Isaiah writes to help us position our lives so that we can enjoy God’s presence more consistently. He helps us understand that the presence of sin will hinder the presence of God in our lives. Apparently, the nation of Judah longed to experience the Lord in a demonstrable way, but something was off (Isa. 58:2-3). Thus, the prophet confronts the religious hypocrisy that kept them laden with sins (Isa. 58:4). Occasional, momentary acts of piety do not impress the Lord. Saying that God is your top priority when your actions reveal otherwise is the height of duplicity. Outward religion that is void of inward devotion to Christ compels God to remain distant.

Isaiah’s ancient message is just as relevant today as it was in the 8^th century B.C. Our modern sensibilities prize maintaining our personal autonomy no matter what others, including God, might say about our immoralities. Every individual certainly has the right to live however they choose. What is astonishing, though, is the continued insistence of so many who claim to know Christ while simultaneously ignoring the clear teachings of His Word. Rather than simply conceding that Christianity simply isn’t for them, many seek to redefine it altogether in a vain pursuit of being near God on their own terms. Yet, the manifest presence of God does not give audience to those who mock His holiness.

To the contrary, God’s faithful prophet repeatedly warned against our contemporary efforts to normalize wicked lifestyles as acceptable expressions of faith. “Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil,” Isaiah warned, “Who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness; Who substitute bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter! Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes, And clever in their own sight (Isa. 5:20-21)!” Instead, God is looking to set us free from the transgressions we return to, the addictions that enslave us, and the burdens that weigh us down (Isa. 58:6).

What are the markers that God has come near in our lives? How can we know that He will answer when we call to Him? When we break the yoke of disobedience, stop relishing in the shortcomings of others, and refuse to speak lies that contradict Scripture, the darkness of sin begins to disappear as the light of God’s presence breaks through (Isa 58:9). Simply put, you known God is close when you start becoming more like Him. 

Dr. Adam B. Dooley is pastor of Englewood Baptist Church in Jackson, TN, and author of Hope When Life Unravels. Contact him at adooley@ebcjackson.org. Follow him on Twitter @AdamBDooley.