Silent Truths

Reflection of the Indefinable

Human language bends and breaks when attempting to describe God. Every vocabulary that humanity possesses has been sculpted within creation—within time, matter, mind, emotion, and experience.

To define God Himself would require stepping beyond the limits of creation and perceiving reality from a vantage point never granted to humankind.

Scripture itself affirms this vast gulf between Creator and created, as seen in Exodus 33:20 (ESV) and 1 Timothy 6:16 (ESV), where divine holiness and unapproachable light make direct comprehension impossible.

What we can ponder is not God’s essence, but God’s presence—the moments when the Eternal stoops into the human plane and brushes against mortal awareness.

We Cannot Define God

The first truth worth acknowledging is that humans cannot define God because definition requires containment. A concept must be smaller than the mind describing it; God, by His very nature, transcends not only thought but the very structures in which thought takes place.

The observable universe, from quantum murmurings to galactic spirals, offers only shadows of the divine imagination but never the full portrait. Verses such as Isaiah 55:8–9 (ESV) and Romans 11:33 (ESV) remind readers that divine knowledge and intention exceed all parameters of human comprehension.

Humanity, limited by the framework of created experience, can only describe God indirectly. We speak in analogies—light, fire, shepherd, king, father—not because these metaphors contain God but because they represent the farthest reach of human understanding.

Even mystical encounters reported throughout history fail to define Him; they merely testify to the edges of His presence. This echoes the spirit of Job 26:14 (ESV), which states that all human perception of the divine is but the “outer fringe” of His ways.

The result is an honest theological humility. Any attempt to define God’s essence becomes an excursion into a realm for which humanity has no sensory equipment. What we can explore is what it means when God draws near—when His presence touches human experience in a way that leaves a mark upon mind, body, and soul.

The entire biblical narrative orbits this theme: not humanity reaching God, but God descending mercifully toward humanity. Acts 17:28 (ESV) gestures in this direction, reminding us that our very existence is enveloped within Him.

Into Human Experience

The presence of God is often described as an overwhelming encounter with ultimate Truth—truth so crystalline and absolute that no further questions remain. This truth does not crush; it clarifies. It exposes the self, dissolves confusion, and rearranges one’s interior world in an instant.

Moments like these echo scriptural accounts such as Isaiah 6:1–5 (ESV) and Revelation 1:17 (ESV), where human beings collapse under the sheer weight of divine reality. The presence of God is not an idea; it is a revelation that engulfs every dimension of awareness.

Some individuals confronted with this presence faint, tremble, or enter visionary states. Others weep uncontrollably, not from sorrow but from a love so immense that it shatters every defense of pride or self-importance. Human arrogance becomes dust in the light of something infinitely greater.

Biblical portrayals of encounters with the divine often include this deep emotional rupture, such as Ezekiel 3:23 (ESV) or Daniel 10:8–10 (ESV), where mortal strength melts away in the face of heavenly glory.

Still others experience profound internal reordering—an acute sense of being fully known, fully understood, and fully measured. Such moments can bring exhilaration, dread, peace, joy, or awe, depending on what the presence of God illuminates within the individual.

Whether the encounter feels like fire or stillness, it leaves the unmistakable imprint of something beyond normal consciousness. Passages like Psalm 46:10 (ESV) and Habakkuk 2:20 (ESV) speak of this sacred stillness in which all human noise quiets before the reality of God.

The Longing

When the presence of God recedes, a longing often grows in its wake—a yearning for that moment of unfiltered truth and love to remain. Some individuals devote their entire lives, fortunes, and time to seeking that nearness again.

They restructure their priorities, redirect their ambitions, and reorder their values around that singular experience. Echoes of this yearning can be seen in Psalm 42:1–2 (ESV) and Exodus 33:13–15 (ESV), where the desire for God’s nearness becomes the central pursuit of life.

Others are knocked so thoroughly off their previous mental axis that everything changes—perspectives, relationships, ambitions. Family and friends may label them fanatics, idealists, mystics, or dreamers, but such individuals cannot return to their old worldview. Something irreplaceable was awakened. This reshaping aligns with scriptural themes like Philippians 3:8–10 (ESV), where encountering Christ renders all former pursuits comparatively trivial.

There are also those who hold tightly to one transcendent memory for decades. They may not chase further experiences, but the imprint of that single encounter remains a golden thread woven through their life.

This quiet transformation echoes passages such as Luke 2:19 (ESV), where Mary “treasured up” and pondered divine moments in her heart. These individuals may appear unchanged externally, yet inwardly they carry an eternal reference point.

The Reponse of Not Knowing

Many individuals feel left out when hearing testimonies of divine encounters. They may witness dramatic transformations in others and yearn for something similar, wondering why they themselves have not been touched in the same way.

Some turn toward spiritual disciplines, prayer, study, or contemplation, hoping to encounter what others describe. Scripture acknowledges this hunger in verses like Jeremiah 29:13 (ESV) and Matthew 5:6 (ESV), where seeking is affirmed as a sacred pursuit.

Others respond differently—sometimes with introspective pride, attempting to explain away their lack of experience through philosophical reasoning or skepticism. They may intellectually dissect the concept of divine presence without ever allowing themselves to become vulnerable to it.

The Bible touches on this tension in 1 Corinthians 2:14 (ESV) and James 4:6 (ESV), highlighting the spiritual blindness that can arise from arrogance or self-sufficiency.

Still others wrestle with jealousy, confusion, or even anger toward God. They see lives changed around them and wonder if they have been overlooked or judged unworthy. Yet Scripture reminds readers that divine timing and divine encounters are never commodities to be demanded or measured.

Psalm 27:14 (ESV) and Lamentations 3:25 (ESV) both emphasize waiting and trust, even when God seems silent.

A Single Truth

When examining all three perspectives—the indescribability of God, the overwhelming encounter with His presence, and the varied responses of those who have or have not experienced it—a shared conclusion emerges.

The presence of God, however defined or encountered, is always transformative. It presses against the limits of language, shakes human identity to its roots, and leaves permanent fingerprints on the soul. Whether it comes as fire, silence, truth, love, fear, or longing, it alters the trajectory of a life forever.

Scriptural references used throughout this reflection collectively reinforce this idea.

Exodus 33:20 (WEB)

“But he said, ‘You cannot see my face, for man may not see me and live.’”

1 Timothy 6:16 (WEB)

“He alone has immortality, dwelling in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen nor can see, to whom be honor and eternal power. Amen.”

Isaiah 55:8–9 (WEB)

“‘For my thoughts are not your thoughts, and your ways are not my ways,’ says Yahweh.
‘For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.’”

Romans 11:33 (WEB)

“Oh the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and the knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past tracing out!”

Job 26:14 (WEB)

“Behold, these are just the outskirts of his ways. How small a whisper do we hear of him! But the thunder of his power who can understand?”

Acts 17:28 (WEB)

“For in him we live, and move, and have our being. As some of your own poets have said, ‘For we are also his offspring.’”

Isaiah 6:1–5 (WEB)

“In the year that king Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up; and his train filled the temple.
Above him stood the seraphim. Each one had six wings. With two he covered his face. With two he covered his feet. With two he flew.
One called to another, and said, ‘Holy, holy, holy, is Yahweh of Armies! The whole earth is full of his glory!’
The foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke.
Then I said, ‘Woe is me! For I am undone, because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell among a people of unclean lips: for my eyes have seen the King, Yahweh of Armies!’”

Revelation 1:17 (WEB)

“When I saw him, I fell at his feet like a dead man. He laid his right hand on me, saying, ‘Don’t be afraid. I am the first and the last.’”

Ezekiel 3:23 (WEB)

“Then I arose, and went out into the valley; and behold, Yahweh’s glory stood there, like the glory which I saw by the river Chebar; and I fell on my face.”

Daniel 10:8–10 (WEB)

“So I was left alone, and saw this great vision. No strength remained in me; for my face grew deathly pale, and I retained no strength.
Yet I heard the sound of his words; and when I heard the sound of his words, then I fell into a deep sleep on my face, with my face toward the ground.
Behold, a hand touched me, which set me on my knees and on the palms of my hands.”

Psalm 46:10 (WEB)

“‘Be still, and know that I am God.
I will be exalted among the nations.
I will be exalted in the earth.’”

Habakkuk 2:20 (WEB)

“But Yahweh is in his holy temple. Let all the earth be silent before him!”

Psalm 42:1–2 (WEB)

“As the deer pants for the water brooks, so my soul pants after you, God.
My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God?”

Exodus 33:13–15 (WEB)

“Now therefore, if I have found favor in your sight, please show me your ways now, that I may know you, so that I may find favor in your sight. Consider that this nation is your people.”
He said, “My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.”
Moses said to him, “If your presence doesn’t go with me, don’t carry us up from here.”

Philippians 3:8–10 (WEB)

“Yes most certainly, and I count all things to be loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, my Lord, for whom I suffered the loss of all things, and count them nothing but refuse, that I may gain Christ
and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own…
that I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, becoming conformed to his death.”

Luke 2:19 (WEB)

“But Mary kept all these sayings, pondering them in her heart.”

Jeremiah 29:13 (WEB)

“You shall seek me, and find me, when you search for me with all your heart.”

Matthew 5:6 (WEB)

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled.”

1 Corinthians 2:14 (WEB)

“Now the natural man doesn’t receive the things of God’s Spirit, for they are foolishness to him, and he can’t know them, because they are spiritually discerned.”

James 4:6 (WEB)

“But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, ‘God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.’”

Psalm 27:14 (WEB)

“Wait for Yahweh.
Be strong, and let your heart take courage.
Yes, wait for Yahweh.”

Lamentations 3:25 (WEB)

“Yahweh is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him.”