Seeing the Presence of God

I was captured recently by a story Philip Yancey shared in his new book entitled Prayer: Does It Make Any Difference? In the story, Yancey tells about the time he and his wife, Janet, were visiting a hospital in Nepal that specializes in leprosy rehabilitation. During the tour of the facility, he noticed what he referred to as “one of the ugliest human beings I have ever seen. Her hands were bandaged in gauze, she had deformed stumps where most people have feet, and her face showed the worst ravages of that cruel disease (leprosy). Her nose had shrunken away so that, looking at her, I could see into her sinus cavity. Her eyes, mottled and covered with callus, let in no light; she was totally blind. Scars covered patches of skin on her arms.”

In the story, Yancey said, “I’m ashamed to say my first thought was, She’s a beggar and she wants money.” But Yancey’s wife did something much more in keeping with the gospel of love we preach, for “Without hesitation she bent down to the woman and put her arm around her. The old woman rested her head against Janet’s shoulder and began singing a song in Nepali, a tune that we all instantly recognized: ‘Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so.’” Later, the person giving the tour said, “Dahnmaya is one of our most devoted church members…She’s a prayer warrior…She loves to greet and welcome every visitor who comes to Green Pastures.” Later, Yancey learned that Dahnmaya had died, probably due to the complications of living with advanced leprosy. And yet, what struck me about this story is that Yancey went on to say, “Out of that deformed, hollow shell of a body, the light of God’s presence shines out. The Holy Spirit found a home.”

The apostle Paul said to the Corinthians, “don’t you know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God?” (1 Cor. 6:19, NLT). Here is a profound truth, and perhaps one of the most important keys to successfully living the Christian life. Paul tells us that the body – yes, the physical body of each believer – is to be the home of the Holy Spirit. Whether young or old, physically strong or weak – whatever our appearance – the Scriptures declare that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. This is a staggering truth, for when we think of how extraordinary it was for the Spirit of God to descend upon the temple in the Old Testament – an event that left the priests, the Levites, and all the people flat on their faces – we should be grateful that God has chosen to make His home within the frailty of a human being. Just think of it! The God whose presence fills the entire universe and beyond – the God who literally made everything we see – is the One who has come to give us the strength and ability to live as Christ in this world.

It is truly a blessing to meet people whose lives radiate the presence of God. Sometimes you find them working in a soup kitchen – the face of Jesus to the broken and hungry of our society. Sometimes you meet them in the aisles of a grocery store as they merrily go about their shopping while talking to everyone who passes by. At other times you meet them in a hospital or nursing home attempting to bring a ray of sunshine to the sick and elderly. And yet, wherever you find them, good is always left in the wake of their passing. It’s like the experience of the two disciples on the road to Emmaus who said of the disguised Jesus, “Didn’t our hearts feel strangely warm as he talked with us?” (Lk. 24:32, NLT).

Philip Yancey says it well: “Whenever I feel polluted by the beauty-obsessed celebrity culture I live in – I pull out that photo. I see two beautiful women: my wife, smiling sweetly, wearing a brightly colored Nepali outfit she had bought the day before, holding in her arms an old lady who would flunk any beauty test ever devised except the one that matters most.” Of course, what mattered most was the presence of God in a place, and perhaps, in a person in whom you’d least except Him. And yet, there He was – and there He can be – in the heart and life of everyone who will say, “Lord, find a home for Your Spirit in me.”