"And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you. I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you." (John 14:16-18)

When Jesus was nearing the end of His earthly ministry, He began preparing His disciples for His physical departure from them. He knew that the absence of His physical body would give them the false sense that He was no longer with them.

But nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, His bodily departure from earth meant that He could return in spirit form and be present with all Believers everywhere all the time. His physical body limited him to being with only a few of His followers at one time. As part of His preparation for leaving, He told His disciples, "Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you" (John 16:7).

We have the same human tendencies that the disciples did: if we can't tangibly see, touch or hear another, we assume they aren't present. In most cases, this is true. But when it comes to God's presence with us, He is always with us, even though we cannot see, touch, or hear Him.

Jesus Himself recognized that He was never alone, even when others forsook Him, because God the Father was with Him: "Behold, the hour cometh, yea, is now come, that ye shall be scattered, every man to his own, and shall leave me alone: and yet I am not alone, because the Father is with me" (John 16:32).

There is an advantage to this alone time. When no one else is around, we have more opportunity to be aware of God's presence. In the distraction of interacting with other people, we often forget about the invisible and silent One who is always with us, and who also wants our attention and interaction.

The next time you are alone and feeling the absence of people to connect with, use that opportunity to realize God's presence with you, and to connect with Him in a deeper way than you would had another person been around to talk to. Learning to sense God's presence is a process, and it involves our repeated choice to be consciously aware of Him, and to talk with Him each time we have opportunity to do so.

"Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me." (Psalm 139:7-10)

© 2009 Fern Horst

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