God's presence

As part of my devotional life I spend a few minutes in centering prayer and then in a time of examen, assessing the last 24 hours and asking where God has most been present or absent.

I meet for prayer with a couple of pastor friends and I mentioned that my time of examen was getting stale, that it didn’t seem like I was getting any better at sensing God’s presence. Together we figured out why: I was focused too much on my feelings rather than on God’s activity. I thought that if I felt good then God must be present (“in Your presence is fullness of joy” – Psalm 16:11) and if I didn’t feel good then God must be absent. But for a guy who’s in denial of his feelings most of the time (especially when I’m under stress) that’s not a good gauge.

So I’ve started to look for signs of God’s activity. And an interesting thing has happened. I’m starting to see that when I’m in a stressful situation I have a great opportunity to act in the power of God’s Spirit. I may not feel “joyful” about it, but through my resolve and boldness to follow God, He is invited into the situation and can act. Situations that I used to count as times of God’s absence are becoming opportunities for God to be powerfully present.

I’m not saying that “God helps those who help themselves”. That phrase isn’t from the Bible: it’s quoted in Poor Richard’s Almanac, edited by Benjamin Franklin. But I am saying that I’m learning that “I can do everything through him who gives me strength” (Philippians 4:13). Finding rest in Jesus (“Come to me… and I will give you rest” Matthew 11:28) doesn’t mean being passive. It means aligning myself with his purposes so that I find myself swimming easily in the current of his will.