Experiencing the Absence and Presence of Others and The Other

Experiences of the absence of God. What does that mean? Can you experience the absence of someone or something? Surely, you can intensely experience the absence of food, because your body needs food, you are used to having it, and you know it very well. And, you can experience the absence of a loved one. You experience their presence, come to rely on it, know that presence, and then that person is not with you. Yes, you can certainly experience a person's absence.

In the Psalms, the writer regularly complains of the absence of God or, at least, the apparent indifference of God. But, in these same Psalms of complaint, the writer also recalls God's presence, even intimate presence and miraculous deliverance in the past. Examples of absence: In Psalm 22, verse 1 "My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?!" and verse 2: "O God, I cry by day, but you do not answer; and by night, but find no rest." And, then later in that same Psalm, examples of presence. In verse 9: "Yet it was you who took me from the womb; you kept me safe on my mother's breast. On you I was cast from my birth, and since my mother bore me you have been my God." And, in verses 21-22: "From the horns of the wild oxen you have rescued me. I will tell of your name to my brothers and sisters, in the midst of the congregation I will praise you."

Is the Psalmist unbalanced, by thinking well of God one minute and poorly of God the next minute? Is religious faith simply tied to the mood of the moment? It is probably best not to answer questions like these too quickly.

In a number of Psalms we see that the struggle of the writer's soul is manifest. It is the report of spiritual experience, and much of the struggle in a Psalm like the 22nd or the 73rd is a struggle with one's own sense of bitterness, suffering, and the feeling that God's help and comfort can not be found. In this struggle, the writer not only expresses the feeling of alienation from other humans and God, but also expresses a loyalty to God and God's people, often kept alive by the memory of past experiences and an enduring sense of identity.

Sometimes I have wondered about how important it is that we know how to carry on a relationship with those we love in their absence. As we experience their absence, we carry on in our imaginations and memories those relationships that are closest to our hearts. With someone you really love, there is a presence in their absence. Otherwise, you probably don't really love them or they you. And, if you don't really feel their absence, then I'm not sure you really know their presence. I think it may be like this with God as well.