The Presence of God is that “still, small voice” you may hear at night, comforting you, encouraging you, reminding you of the glorious relationship you have with your Creator, your Sustainer, and your Forever Pursuer. It is unlike anything you can experience with any human being. It is the feeling—yes, a God-given, true feeling—of being held in the arms of the deepest power in the universe. It is the knowledge that when you cry out, He will answer, because He loves you, knows you, cares for your soul. And because of this, you hesitate before you speak. You weigh every word, you wonder if you should bother with the insignificant things. So you go from the hardest, most worrying items on the agenda, all the way down to the things that you know seem unimportant. And He hears you. 

The Presence of God is life-changing. When you sense Him that up-close, you can’t just go back to being your old self. You are forever pulled to be more like Him. You begin to love others before yourself, with a love that does not flow from your own heart. It is God’s love, and it is pure, and undefiled, and flowing.

The Presence of God is emotional. It brings tears to your eyes because suddenly—after so many years of hoping, perhaps without knowing you were hoping for anything at all—you know that He is Here with you, and nothing you say will go unheard by the great Audience. It unlike speaking to anyone else, it is unlike touching anyone else, it is unlike anything else in the universe.

The Presence of God is humbling. You know that you do not deserve it, you know that you are receiving it purely out of God’s abounding love for you, and you’re not sure why He loves you so dearly. You lie down on your face, you confess your pride, and you give your Self up unto His enveloping, glorious Self.

The Presence of God is drenching like a heavy rain, warming like a campfire, comforting like the shade of a large tree, soothing like the soft summer breeze, sweet like honey, overpowering like the thunder, pure like a fresh blanket of snow—His Presence is like all of those things because He made all of those things, as reflections of His nature, because every good and perfect gift is from above.

The Presence of God is comforting, when all others have abandoned you, when you are in the midst of bitter suffering. When you are alone, and those who once promised their love have left, you will find, in the absence of all the noise, the One who has been there all along, waiting for your attention. He will embrace you, and you’ll realize that all the things you once depended on were frivolous in comparison. You won’t rely on other people, you won’t rely on any material things, you won’t rely on yourself; you will find your dependency and trust in Christ alone, and you will feel more at peace than you ever remember feeling.

The Presence of God is often elusive, but once you taste it, you will keep coming back. You will confess your sin and cry to Him for help. You will ask Him why He allows the hurting of today. You will wonder when He’ll visit again, if His absence is a sign of your shortcomings, so you confess those things again, and you wait. And His soft, assuring Presence comes back, and all your questions are put aside for the time.

This is what I live for.