The presence of God

I sometimes wonder what we mean when we talk about feeling God's presence. What exactly is it that we are feeling? For many charismatic Christians it is often about some warm fuzzy sense. "I really felt God's presence today", doesn't seem to mean much when you boil it down.

I say this because of two things. Firstly I was reading Psalm 114 yesterday or the day before and was struck by what the psalmist says happens as a result of God's presence. The sea fled, the Jordan turned back, the mountains leap like rams and the hills like lambs. The earth trembles at the presence of the Lord.

Doesn't sound warm and fuzzy really.

Now, I'm not suggesting that we shouldn't feel the sense of God's presence as an experience of his love and grace like a warm embrace, but there's more to God's presence than that.

The second thing was the lyric of a song, the chorus of which says this:

When you stand, tall trees and mountains bow,

When you speak, the fiercest of oceans is still.

And I see the sinner seek devotion

The lost become chosen, and I fall to my knees.

From Devotion

It's just a plea to not limit God's presence to making us feel better about ourselves but to look for an experience of him that moves mountains and calms storms and maybe, just maybe, makes us weak at the knees because of the awesome nature of his almighty power.