I believe that, as the Third Person of the Holy Trinity, the Holy Spirit is absolutely timeless, or more properly to say, Eternal.
But I do not see how it necessarily follows that His relations with us in Time — and I imagine since the Resurrection of Christ, He is the only Person of the Triune Godhead who has direct relations with human souls while we are still in finite, mortal bodies — is much concerned with "affecting a determination of time that has passed."
The work of the Holy Spirit is toward affecting our future (from our point of view) Salvation. It is here that I believe that the great poet, T. S. Eliot, was truly inspired; for he wrote:
Man lives at the intersection of time and timelessness.The work of the Holy Spirit — God with us (if we let Him through the door) — is to teach us how to live in faith, and hope, and love, to shine God's Light on our path ahead, that we may humbly, faithfully follow our Lord Jesus Christ. He is about the salvation of souls, not about instructing us about time that has passed, or of any other aspect of temporal human knowledge....
At least, that is my belief — for I know Him, in all humility....
I keep a clean, well-swept room in my Heart for Him, that He may abide with me according to His Will. And I cannot begin to describe to you the misery, the anguish I feel, when He is absent.... As sometimes happens. It is then that I truly feel alone, abandoned ... a stranger in a strange land.
For what it's worth, dear brother in Christ.
Thank you so much for writing!
Christ promised that He would never leave us or forsake us.
We may not be as aware of His indwelling Presence at some times as much as others, but it's our perception, not His absence in fact.
He has sealed us with the promised Holy Spirit as a guarantee of our inheritance. He can't leave.
Ephesians 1:13-14 In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.
Ephesians 4:30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.
2 Corinthians 1:21-22 And it is God who establishes us with you in Christ, and has anointed us, and who has also put his seal on us and given us his Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee.
2 Corinthians 5:4-8 For while we are still in this tent, we groan, being burdened—not that we would be unclothed, but that we would be further clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who has given us the Spirit as a guarantee.
So we are always of good courage. We know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord, for we walk by faith, not by sight. Yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord.
We walk by faith, not by sight.
Hebrews 11:1 Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.
So that even when it may feel like He's not there, our faith kicks in and we can know it as a certainty because He said it and we know He is faithful and He is not a man that He should lie.
Don't grieve that He has left, just that the intimacy and fellowship is interrupted.
2 Co 12: 1 I must go on boasting. Although there is nothing to be gained, I will go on to visions and revelations from the Lord. 2 I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven. Whether it was in the body or out of the body I do not know--God knows. 3 And I know that this man--whether in the body or apart from the body I do not know, but God knows-- 4 was caught up to paradise. He heard inexpressible things, things that man is not permitted to tell.