The Presence of God

In the 1600s, a young man named Nicholas Herman went through a transformation that led him to be one of the most inspiring people throughout the history of the church. Herman eventually became known as Brother Lawrence. Today, he is most commonly remembered for the closeness of his relationship to God as recorded in the classic Christian text, The Practice of the Presence of God.

Here's some of what I have read about his transformation:

As a young man, Herman's poverty forced him into joining the army, and thus he was guaranteed meals and a small stipend. During this period, Herman had an experience that set him on a unique spiritual journey; it wasn't, characteristically, a supernatural vision, but a supernatural clarity into a common sight.

In the deep of winter, Herman looked at a barren tree, stripped of leaves and fruit, waiting silently and patiently for the sure hope of summer abundance. Gazing at the tree, Herman grasped for the first time the extravagance of God's grace and the unfailing sovereignty of divine providence. Like the tree, he himself was seemingly dead, but God had life waiting for him, and the turn of seasons would bring fullness. At that moment, he said, that leafless tree "first flashed in upon my soul the fact of God," and a love for God that never after ceased to burn.

People like John Wesley, founder of Methodism, and influential 20th century American Protestant pastor, A.W. Tozer, both read Brother Lawrence's wisdom and teaching. Both wanted to experience God in the same way Herman did before that tree--both wanted the "fact of God" in the moment to cause their hearts to burn without ceasing.

The fact of God in the moment caused another man's heart to burn with joy. The man was blind and Jesus healed him (John 9). I love the man's response when grilled by the Pharisees on his healing. The man says, in essence, "Look, all I know is I was blind and now I can see." What happened to the man? He encountered God in the flesh. For the rest of the man's life, he could tell the story of the day Jesus came into his life. He could tell of the abject poverty of the life of the blind, what it felt like to be ostracized from society and what it was like to be restored to health and society. God would forever be more than an abstraction. God was present and God acted definitively in healing him. His life would never be the same again.

Think through your own life. Perhaps you have had your own Nicholas Herman moments standing before a mid-winter barren tree when God suddenly crashes into your consciousness. Perhaps you have had your own blindness, likely spiritual blindness, that suddenly the Lord healed. And perhaps as a result of these encounters with God, you now move through your days with a little more awareness of God's presence.

One of the prayers I prayed for years was only seven words long: "Lord Jesus, remind me of your presence." Somehow, no matter what was going on, when I could recall that the Lord was with me in the moment, nothing seemed impossible. No burden seemed too great, no obstacle too large. What I craved then, like now, was an awareness of the presence of God.

As I write, this is the first day of Holy Week 2008. It is Palm Sunday. Even today, even as you read these words, the ever-present God is writing one of the greatest stories ever written. It is the great story called your life. In that story, God is constantly at work and breaking-in so you can see him. Above anything else, that story called your life is a story of faith. Tell others that great story.

May your journey to Easter be filled with awareness of the presence of God.