God's Awesome Presence

I read recently of a time when theologian R.C. Sproul (pictured at left) was, as a young man, summoned by the Lord to leave his dormitory room late one night. As he wrote later, the inner summons clearly commanded, "Get up. Get out of this room." The summons became stronger, more urgent, impossible to ignore, and so, R.C. got up and what to the college chapel where He seemed to sense that God was waiting to meet him in a way that he had never known before.

As he knelt quietly in the chapel, the only sound seemed to be the beating of his heart - the thump-thump telltale sign of something extraordinary about to happen. Suddenly, the wave of God's presence passed over him - a flooding of his soul with unspeakable peace and instant rest. "At once," he said, "I was comfortable. I wanted to linger there. To say nothing. To do nothing. Simply to bask in the presence of God."

Years later, Dr. Sproul wrote about this expereince by saying, "That moment was life transforming. Something deep in my spirit was being settled once for all. From this moment there could be no turning back; there could be no erasure of the indelible imprint of its power. I was alone with God. A holy God. An awesome God...a God who invaded my dormitory room to rouse me from complacent slumber."

What else sets us free from "complacent slumber" but the presence of God? When confronted with who He really is, how can anyone ever be the same again? As the apostle Paul said, "Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is there is freedom. And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory" (2 Cor. 3:17,18, NIV).