“You can’t feel the presence of God. You don’t have any mechanism to feel the presence of God. I’ve never felt the presence of God; I don’t even know what that means. But I do know this: He’s here.”
John MacArthur, “The Promise of the Holy Spirit, Part 2”
Recently I came across the quote above and it got me thinking about the relationship between our feelings and what we often think of as a felt presence of God in worship or in prayer. Do we really feel God’s presence in those times or is that nothing more than an emotionally conjured up state?
The quote comes from on of John MacArthur’s sermons on John 14:15-17. If you’d like to take a listen to the entire sermon you can find it here.
Below is some of the larger context quote that helps understand where MacArthur is coming from.
“Christian mysticism, through the Middle Ages, and even until now, has always sought to find God in some experience, some feeling, some emotion; some means by which the senses imminence is present. This has become a popular notion in evangelical churches that there are ways in which you can feel God, in which you can sense God’s presence.
Perhaps the most popular one is music. If you get the right music, if the music is sort of musically seductive enough and emotionally energized enough, people will say, “I just feel the presence of God. Don’t you feel the presence of God?”
Well, of course, that is absolute nonsense. You can’t feel the presence of God. You don’t have any mechanism to feel the presence of God. I’ve never felt the presence of God; I don’t even know what that means. But I do know this: He’s here. And more than that, He not only inhabits the praise of His people; is joined to His people in union all the time so that the church itself literally is in constant communion with God collectively; it’s not only true that where two or three are gathered together, He is in the midst. But, this is true.John MacArthur, “The Promise of the Holy Spirit, Part 2”
And, listen; the Trinity lives in every Christian – the Trinity, three-in-one, in every Christian. There isn’t some experience that you can have that takes you into some communion with God that you otherwise don’t have. There isn’t some musical formula that can induce some kind of fellowship with God that, without the music, can’t happen. There certainly isn’t a drug that’s going to do anything other than alter your mind and make you think something’s happening that’s not.
Every believer is in constant, unending, eternal communion with the Trinity. And I’m not talking about when you come here, I’m talking about when you leave here. I’m talking about when you’re all by yourself and you’re driving along in your car alone, you are in the presence of the Trinity – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – full and complete communion.
I think this is somehow lost on many evangelicals. There are so many foolish ideas to correct in the church, but this is a big one. The idea that somehow this notion of feeling God, or sensing God, or communing with God has to be induced by some mechanical mean – foolish.”
I believe in this context John is making a needed point. Too much of Christianity is led to believe that communion with God comes from an emotional feeling/experience and that if we can produce that feeling then we have some how conjured up God and communion with Him.
The Scripture MacArthur is preaching on in this sermon is John 14:16-17
And I will petition the Father, and He will give you another Comforter, that He may remain with you to the age,
John 14:16-17
the Spirit of Truth, whom the world cannot receive because it does not see Him nor know Him. But you know Him, for He abides with you and shall be in you.
Christ here is comforting his disciples with the truth that he will send the Holy Spirit, who is called the Comforter. At this point it was vital for the disciples to operate not based on a felt presence of God but rather on the truth of God’s Word and Jesus’ promise to them. This principle is true throughout Scripture. Again and again we are called to truth and to believe in that truth, this grounds us and gives us a foundation for living and dying.
Yes, the Spirit comforts, but again this isn’t simply giving us peaceful feelings but rather giving us truth that leads to a peace of mind. The comfort of the Spirit emanates from truth that we believe in his Word! That truth brings comfort because it reminds us of the promises of a great inheritance and eternal life for all who believe. The inner working of the Holy Spirit is essentially connected with the power of His Word and the heart changing effects it has in our life.
Those who say they “feel” God’s presence may or may not feel his presence, they may simply feel the emotion of a song or a moment. There is danger in seeking this kind of feeling, we need to make sure that we are seeking the truth of God’s presence rather than the feeling of his presence. Furthermore, we must not measure the closeness of God based upon a particularly strong emotion or feeling. God is here, and as a believer I know that because he has promised to be in me until the end of the age (John 14:16-17) At times my feelings may agree with this, at times they may not, but it never changes the truth and it is to that truth that I must return again and again.
That being said, it seems to me that John MacArthur comes off rather categorical in his statement that we can’t feel God’s presence. Certainly he can’t be talking about circumstances like Exodus 19:16 or Isaiah 6:5 or Luke 1:12 or Rev 1:17 and I don’t think he is because these are all direct revelations of God to man in which He appeared in some visible way. The common feeling of this manifestation of God’s presence is fear and trembling. However, in the context of what John M. was referring to the common feeling is certainly not fear and trembling. So I would like to think that if he were talking about real manifestations of God’s presence then he would say that you certainly can feel it.
We need caution in our thoughts about God’s presence and in our understanding of feelings that may or may not be inline with the truth of God’s presence. While I understand the global church trend towards seeking experiences and feelings over truth, I don’t think I can make the same statement that MacArthur makes in this regard.
I was surprised to find that one of MacArthur’s heros seems to disagree with him on this point. Take a look at what Spurgeon says on this same text:
“So the worldling says there is no Holy Ghost, because he cannot see it. Well, but we feel it. You say that is fanaticism, and that we never felt it. Suppose you tell me that honey is bitter, I reply, “No, I am sure you cannot have tasted it; taste it and try.” So with the Holy Ghost; if you did but feel his influence, you would no longer say there is no Holy Spirit, because you cannot see it. Are there not many things, even in nature, which we cannot see? Did you ever see the wind? No; but ye know there is wind, when you behold the hurricane tossing the waves about, and rending down the habitations of men; or when, in the soft evening zephyr, it kisses the flowers, and maketh dew-drops hang in pearly coronets around the rose. Did ye ever see electricity? No; but ye know there is such a thing, for it travels along the wires for thousands of miles, and carries our messages; though you cannot see the thing itself, you know there is such a thing. So you must believe there is a Holy Ghost working in us, both to will and to do, even though it is beyond our senses.”
C.H. Spurgeon “The Personality of the Holy Ghost”
In response to the question, “Can you feel God’s presence?” My answer would be that inasmuch as our feelings are a response to the truth of God’s Word can we feel God’s presence in our daily lives.
The deeper I go into God’s Word, the more truth I learn, and believe, and incorporate into my life, the more I will experience feelings that emanate from the knowledge of those truths.
In times of prayer as I reflect deeply upon the character of God I may be overwhelmed with feelings of awe. In times of worship as I focus on the saving work of Jesus Christ I may experience feelings of gratitude. In fellowship with other believers I may feel joy. These are feelings are the result of God’s presence through the Word and the Holy Spirit in my life. They are not in and of themselves proof of God’s presence but they should be the result of His presence. I do not seek experience, I seek God and His truth but I know that in seeking and believing that truth there should be corresponding feelings.
Perhaps one of the clearest Scriptures that shows the relationship between God’s truth, His presence, and our feelings is 2 Corinthians 1:3-5
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassions and God of all comfort,
2Co 1:3-5
the One comforting us on all our affliction, for us to be able to comfort those in every affliction, through the comfort by which we ourselves are comforted by God.
Because even as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so also our comfort abounds through Christ.
