When We Sense the Presence with God
When We Sense the Presence with God¹
What are the times of sensing the presence of God? When does the soul feel that God is present with it? In truth, among the main times in which we sense God’s presence with us are the following:
1. Times of distress and weariness:
The time of distress is a time of need for God, and in it one feels the presence of God more than in times of comfort or pleasure. In distress, one feels the hand of God—how it intervenes, works, and saves…
Jacob, the father of the patriarchs, began his spiritual experiences in a time of distress.
We do not hear of spiritual experiences, visions, or revelations for him in his father’s house—nor struggle with God, nor divine promises, nor change of name. But when Esau said, “I will arise and kill Jacob my brother” (Gen 27:41), and Jacob fled from before his brother, here he began to feel the presence of God in his life. In his flight and distress, he saw the ladder reaching from heaven to earth, and he saw the angels ascending and descending on it, and he heard the voice of God saying to him, “Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land” (Gen 28:10–15). And thus began for Jacob a series of spiritual experiences in life with God.
The same situation applies to Joseph the righteous. He did not enter into divine fellowship as he should have while he was a pampered son in his father’s house, with a multicolored tunic and beautiful dreams that stirred his brothers’ envy and jealousy. But when he was cast into the pit, and when he was sold as a slave, he began to experience God’s hand with him—how He made his ways prosper, how He comforted him even while he was in prison, how He granted him the gift of interpreting dreams, and how He granted him favor in the eyes of the keeper of the prison and the prisoners, and even favor in the eyes of Pharaoh himself. “God meant it for good” (Gen 50:20). His best spiritual days were while he was in distress. But when he became a ruler, we no longer hear of visions or dreams; rather, he became a man of administration and authority. And the will of the Lord was not revealed to him at the time of blessing his sons Ephraim and Manasseh as it was revealed to his father Jacob, who lived in distress (Gen 48:17–19).
The prophet Jonah experienced his deepest spirituality while he was in the belly of the fish. When he was free, he was resisting the divine command and clinging to his own opinion. But when the fish swallowed him and the currents and depths passed over him, then he cried out from the belly of Sheol, and the Lord heard his voice. When his soul fainted within him, Jonah prayed to the Lord from the belly of the fish and said, “When my soul fainted within me, I remembered the Lord, and my prayer went up to You… With the voice of thanksgiving I will sacrifice to You” (Jonah 2:1, 7, 9).
There are many examples of prophets and righteous men.
The three youths enjoyed the presence of God with them while they were in the fiery furnace. Daniel the prophet felt God’s work on his behalf while he was in the lions’ den. The apostle Peter touched God’s hand with him while he was in prison (Acts 12:6–7), and likewise the apostle Paul (Acts 16:25–26). John did not behold that great vision except in distress, exiled on the island of Patmos (Rev 1:9–10).
The disciples of the Lord saw His hand with them when the boat was troubled and the wind raged, and He came to them in the fourth watch of the night and rebuked the winds. Truly, when there are no human solutions, one sees the hand of God at work. Sometimes, when a person rises in position, the work of God disappears from his vocabulary, and you may find in this vocabulary words of fame, money, greatness, and status, while the word of God becomes rare.
But when distress comes, his eyes cling to the Lord his God. Thus were the children of Israel in their ancient history. In times of pleasure they would forget the Lord, and often worship idols. But when the Lord delivered them into the hands of their enemies who humbled them, then they would cry out to the Lord, and He would send them a deliverer, as the Book of Judges explains. How deep is the psalmist’s expression of this experience: “Fill their faces with shame, that they may seek Your name, O Lord.” Perhaps in our strength we rely on our strength, but in hardship we experience the Lord. The Lord says, “Call upon Me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify Me.” The crossing of the Red Sea was in a time of distress; likewise the striking of the rock that brought forth water, and likewise the overshadowing cloud.
The widow of Zarephath of Sidon did not experience the presence of God and fellowship with Him except in the time of famine and when her son died. Here God appeared in her life. Likewise the Shunammite woman when her son died.
We enjoy the presence of God in times of distress—we feel His presence and touch His presence—and likewise we enjoy His divine presence in times of prayer, contemplation, and worship.
2. Times of worship and contemplation:
Spiritual times are very suitable for sensing the presence in the presence of God, as our holy fathers felt in their seclusion and solitude. Therefore they left the noise of the world to the deserts, where they were alone and sensed Him in their prayers and contemplations of God, and felt that they found Him there.
The vision of John and the vision of Paul:
In the Book of Revelation, Saint John the Beloved did not find God only in distress, but he says, “I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s Day” (Rev 1:10). He was in a spiritual state, clinging to the Spirit of God, lifting his heart to Him on a holy day. In this spiritual atmosphere, he saw heaven opened and beheld the throne of God and the heavenly hosts praising Him.
The apostle Paul also gives us the same picture in his ascent to the third heaven. He too was in a spiritual state, which he described by saying, “Whether in the body or out of the body, I do not know; God knows” (2 Cor 12:2–3). A person senses the presence of God in spiritual environments, when his heart clings to God and his spirit touches God.
Saint Gregory, Bishop of Nyssa, while serving the Divine Liturgy, used to behold the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove. Sometimes the Lord would reveal who was worthy of communion and who was not. Many priestly fathers during the liturgies are in an extraordinary spiritual state, during which they feel the actual presence with God.
Here there is a special spiritual atmosphere, arising from preparation for this holy service and preparation for communion, the reverence of the church, the altar, and the sacrifice, the atmosphere of incense and prayers, and the actual standing before God. All of this gives a special feeling that is rarely found at other times. Therefore I marvel at those who ask a priest to record for them a piece of the liturgy at a time of their choosing. At that time he will record a melody, but not the same spirit. There is a great difference between recording a melody at any time and recording it during the Divine Liturgy, in a special spiritual atmosphere and a special spiritual state, and in the feeling of standing before God, under the effect of the holy sacrifice.
By the same logic, we say that there is a fundamental difference between hearing the Divine Liturgy while you are in church preparing yourself for communion, and hearing it in your home from the radio or a recording device.
In times of prayer and contemplation, a person feels God filling his heart and feels that God surrounds him, and also feels that he is standing before God speaking to Him. See how Christ says, “Where two or three are gathered together in My name, there am I in the midst of them.” This feeling that God is in our midst is a spiritual feeling that a person experiences at the time of prayer. He also feels that angels are around him and that the spirits of the saints surround him, and that a deep spirit within him gives him what to say.
For this reason, prayer meetings have their power and effect, and prayer nights and vigils have deep effectiveness within the soul and extraordinary power. We remember that while the disciples of the Lord were serving the Lord and praying, the Holy Spirit spoke to them and said, “Separate to Me Barnabas and Saul” (Acts 13:2). And on one occasion while they were praying, the place was shaken by the power of prayer or by the divine presence during prayer, and those participating in the prayer were filled with the Holy Spirit (Acts 4:31). Prayer caused the Lord to dwell with His glory in the place, so the worshipers felt the presence of God and that the cloud had settled upon the tabernacle.
Here a person feels consolation, joy, and peace, and feels the sweetness of remaining in prayer, wishing that prayer would never end. As one of the fathers said about prayer: because of the great sweetness of the word in their mouths, they did not want to move from one word to another in their prayers.
He who feels the sweetness of prayer and the presence of God with him in prayer does not like to move from the atmosphere of prayer to any other atmosphere far from it. Even when his prayer ends, he may remain standing, even silent, finding it difficult to tear himself away from this spiritual atmosphere, even if he says one phrase: “I do not want, O Lord, to leave You for another work. I do not want to end the conversation with You in order to speak with anyone else.”
From here came unceasing prayer—not as a fanatical act or mere exercise, but as a desire to remain with God for the longest possible time. There are many times in which you feel the presence with God, but the time of prayer and contemplation is the deepest and strongest of them.
3. Sacred places:
The atmosphere of the church and sacred places makes you feel the presence with God more than you feel it in any other place. Therefore we find a spiritual man like David the prophet, who could be spiritual anywhere and enjoy God, yet he says, “How lovely are Your dwellings, O Lord of hosts. My soul longs, yes, even faints for the courts of the Lord; my heart and my flesh rejoice in the living God… Blessed are those who dwell in Your house; they will still be praising You” (Ps 84). And he says, “One thing I have desired of the Lord, that will I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in His temple” (Ps 27).
Thus the psalmist chants about the holy mountain and the city of God, saying, “His foundation is in the holy mountains. The Lord loves the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob… Glorious things are spoken of you, O city of God” (Ps 87). “This is My resting place forever; here I will dwell, for I have desired it” (Ps 132). “Holiness adorns Your house, O Lord” (Ps 93). “I lift up my eyes to the hills—from whence comes my help?” (Ps 121).
A visit to a holy place—to a monastery, a saint’s cave, or an ancient church—may have deep spiritual effects within the soul. It makes a person feel the presence of God in that place, as our father Jacob said about Bethel: “Surely the Lord is in this place” (Gen 28).
Therefore, sometimes when a person feels his need for a strong spiritual push, he visits a holy place, and the feeling of God’s presence with him returns, or the feeling of being before God returns, and his heart is ignited merely by seeing the building, or seeing a certain icon that has an effect on the soul, or merely remembering that a certain saint lived with God in that place. Or a person may resort to any spiritual means that ignites the love of God in his heart and makes him feel this divine presence within the heart.
If the effect of the place and the effect of the spiritual work come together, this is very beneficial. Indeed, there are places that drive a person strongly to prayer, or give him a special depth in his prayers, hymns, contemplations, and readings.
However, being in the divine presence may not come because of us, but rather from a visitation of grace to us at a time we do not know, do not expect, or have not prepared ourselves for—a time we do not know. Truly, as the Lord said in the Holy Gospel, “The kingdom of God does not come with observation” (Luke 17:20). The Spirit blows where He wishes. We do not know when God will speak to us, when He will reveal Himself to us, when His grace will visit us, when we will find ourselves before God.
At a time we do not know, God works in our hearts without our awareness and makes us feel His presence. Thus He did with the saints. At a time Moses the prophet did not expect, and in a way that never crossed his mind, God spoke to him from the burning bush and revealed Himself to him and sent him to save the people (Exod 3). At a certain time, God spoke to our father Abram and called him to life with Him (Gen 12). Abram found himself before God without having imagined it, and this was repeated in his life many times. The kingdom of God does not come with observation.
Likewise, Samuel the prophet, while he was a child, never expected at all to have a conversation with God, or that God would choose him for a mission or for prophecy. Yet he found himself before God at a time he did not know or expect. In the same manner, Saul of Tarsus, on the road to Damascus, found himself before the light, before a calling, before rebuke, and before Christ Himself. He became an apostle without knowing it, and indeed contrary to the path he had chosen for himself.
At an unknown time, grace visits a person’s heart and ignites it. It is required of him either to respond or to let the opportunity pass. You do not know when God will knock on your door. All you know is that if you hear His voice, do not harden your heart, but open your door immediately and say to Him in love: “Come, O Lord Jesus.”
The problem of the Bride in the Song of Songs was that she did not open to the Lord when He came leaping upon the mountains and skipping upon the hills, nor when He put His hand through the opening and her heart yearned for Him. Therefore she said in deep pain: “My beloved turned aside and was gone. My soul failed when he spoke. I sought him, but I could not find him; I called him, but he gave me no answer” (Song 5:2–6).
During times of the visitation of grace, a person feels the presence of God with him. He feels an unusual warmth, a drawing of his heart toward his God, a wondrous love for the Lord and His kingdom, a desire for prayer, depth in contemplation, and also a control over his thoughts and a spiritual direction.
If you see this in yourself, remember the saying of the apostle: “Do not quench the Spirit” (1 Thess 5:19). And if you are not in this spiritual state, do not try to watch for when it will come. It is enough to say in your psalms, “My heart is ready, O God, my heart is ready” (Ps 57). Continually, whenever you find within yourself a spiritual longing, try to inflame it more. If you find within yourself a desire for repentance or confession, do not delay or postpone. If you find a pressing desire to pray, do not be lazy.
Beware lest your heart become proud during visitations of grace. Being in the presence of God calls for greater humility, contrition of heart, and a feeling of unworthiness. By this the Lord can give us more and more, for He gives grace to the humble (James 4:6). Whenever you find yourself with God, say: It is because of my need that the Lord allowed Himself to visit me with His grace, not because of my worthiness.
It is not by our effort that we are with the Lord, but by His compassion and His presence. Because of His love for mankind, because He does not desire the death of the sinner, because of His care, providence, and fatherhood—often without any request from us—as He did with the two disciples of Emmaus and with Saul of Tarsus.
Blessed be God in the greatness of His love. To Him be glory now and forever. Amen.
¹ An article by His Holiness Pope Shenouda III, published in Watani newspaper on 9-3-1986.
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