The Promise of God's Presence

It’s not all uncommon for followers of Christ to feel that God is absent at times. For some, His absence may be felt on a personal level. God may seem distant and indifferent to our personal battle with depression, anxiety, or fears about the uncertain future. For others, God’s absence may be felt amid the ongoing presence of evil, suffering, and injustices in the world. Whichever camp we succumb to from time to time, we need to remind ourselves, and one another, about the promises of His presence.

Dear friends, when God seems to be absent, remember Him who, out of mere mercy, was present, active and who delivered His people from sin through the death of His eternal Son Jesus who bore the penalty of your sin and my sin. Consider Him who “demonstrated His own love for toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). The God who saves and rescues you and I is the same God who promises to you and I, “I will never leave you or forsake you” (Hebrews 13:5). Believe and trust in Him today, for the Lord is good and His mercy endures forever.

Do you remember those words of David in the twenty-third Psalm? The God who makes us to lie down in green pastures, who leads us beside the still waters, who restores our soul and leads is in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake, is the same God who promises to be with us and comfort us even when we walk through the valley of the shadow of death. In the presence of our enemies, God is not absent, but present, and He Himself assures us that goodness and mercy shall follow us all the days of our lives (Psalm 23).

When God seems absent, remember that the God who knows the very number of hairs on our head (Luke 12:7) is the same God who knows the number of tears which run down our cheeks during those very times when we face hardship. Again, king David writes: “You number my wanderings: put my tears into Your bottle; are they not in Your book?” (Psalm 56:8). For if God knows and sees and hears, we can be assured that He is our “present help in trouble” (Psalm 46:1).

But, you may ask, if God knows, sees, hears, and is present, why all the continuous presence of evil, suffering, and injustices in the world? If you abide in Christ, and He in you, take heart in Peter's words, “beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promises as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance” (2 Peter 3:8,9). 

God’s delay of judgement does not mean that He is absent, but rather teaches us that because of His amazing grace, a blessed hope remains for the broken, lost, and fallen people to turn from their sin in repentance and turn to Him through faith in Christ. And though His judgment may be delayed, it will not be delayed forever. For 2 Peter tells us that “the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed” (2 Peter 3:10). 

Until then, Immanuel, “God with us” (Matthew 1:23), has commissioned you and I “to make disciples of all nations”. It is this same faithful God who also assures us of the promise: "behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the age” (Matt. 28:19,20).