God's Presence

It was Moses who said to the Lord, "If your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here...What else will distinguish me and your people from all the other people on the face of the earth?" (Ex. 33:15,16 , NIV). What can be more important to us than the Presence of God? What changes a life like the Presence of God? Who of us can really describe what His Presence - His Person - is like when He is felt?

Sometime after the mathematician, Blaise Pascal (1623-1662, pictured at left) died, a servant happened to find hidden in the lining of his master's coat a little piece of parchment paper that was covered with writing. On this paper, Pascal had tried to describe a life-changing encounter with the living God that for some reason he had kept secret. Here is some of what he wrote:

"In the year of Grace, 1654, on Monday, 23rd of November...from about half past ten in the evening until about half past twelve...FIRE...God of Abraham, God of Isaac, God of Jacob, not of the philosopers and scholars. Certitude...Feeling...Joy, Peace, God of Jesus Christ."

How can we describe the Presence of God? Well, for Pascal, it was like standing in a FIRE. But it was not a fire that destroyed him, but instead, it changed him completely - never to be the same again. The FIRE consumed the man he once was. When trying to describe the experience, Pascal used simple language to say, "The Presence of God, well, He was 'Joy.' But, He was also 'Peace.' And O, while standing there, I I felt such certainty - it was as if everything made sense. I just knew Him, and He knew me. FIRE sums it up!" And so, until his dying day, this brilliant mathematician remembered his experience with the Presence of God. He was a FLAME that blazed forth, and for Pascal and all others like him, this flame brought him face to face with the Lord Jesus Christ!