God, Where Are You?

A question I hear so frequently, and a question I myself am plagued with from time to time is, "Why do I feel so distant from God?". This is a question that comes in many different forms, I have also heard, "Why has God left me?", "What have I done wrong? God is clearly upset with me.". And many other variations upon this same idea.

When I was first asked this question, my reaction is always, "this is a silly thing to say, God never leaves us, He is always with us". And while I believe this to be scripturally (absolutely) true, I started to realize there was perhaps more to this that I was not aware of. As we should always do, in turning to scripture I realized that this is not a feeling that is rare or uncommon within the Christian faith. This is a belief that is actually incredibly common. Let us turn to scripture, starting with Psalms 13.

"How long, Lord? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? 2 How long must I wrestle with my thoughts and day after day have sorrow in my heart? How long will my enemy triumph over me?

3 Look on me and answer, Lord my God. Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep in death, 4 and my enemy will say, “I have overcome him,” and my foes will rejoice when I fall.

5 But I trust in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your salvation. 6 I will sing the Lord’s praise, for he has been good to me."

We can conclude from these verses that whoever wrote them must be someone with a poor relationship with God, and someone who spends little time pursuing the heart of our Lord, that must be the truth because he is suffering so much, correct? WRONG, this psalm is written by King David himself, a man who loved God so vehemently, a man after God's heart (1 Samuel 13:14). We see from this psalm (and many others) that David was a man tormented by these thoughts and these doubts. In verse 1 we see him asking why God has forgotten and hidden his face from David. Had God forgotten David? Of course not! Had God hidden His face, (not literally)? Perhaps... Let us look into this idea a little more.

In order to understand this concept a little better let us look at Isaiah. 50:10.

"Who among you fears the Lord

and obeys the word of his servant?

Let the one who walks in the dark,

who has no light,

trust in the name of the Lord

and rely on their God."

In this chapter we see the people of the Lord being instructed in how they are to behave. Yet in verse 10 we see something quite interesting, "Let the one who walks in the dark, who has no light, trust in the name of the Lord and rely on their God.". What exactly does this mean? One who walks in the dark, is that not referring to a sinful wicked man? Within this context the answer is absolutely not, within the framework of the chapter and of this verse this is very clearly directed at followers of Christ. We see from this verse that those who are God fearing Christ loving believers can still walk in the dark. This is what we see with David, we see this here in Isaiah and we also see it in the book of Job. There is this concept in the Bible where God teaches us, and he refines and sanctifies us by allowing us to go through things where His presence is not readily felt. We see in the ladder portion of verse 10 that they are encouraged to trust in His name, and to rely on Him. What this means is that they must rely upon what they have been taught, and they must take comfort in knowing who God is. (2 Timothy 3:15) We know the promises and the character of our God. We know as it says in Deuteronomy 31:6 that the Lord never leaves us. Please do not be mistaken, I am not arguing that He ever does.

"Be strong and courageous.

Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the LORD your God goes with you;

he will never leave you nor forsake you.”-

However, I do believe that God sometimes makes His presence unfelt, and His comfort scarce, in an opportunity for us to lean upon Him more heavily. We see at the end of Psalms 13 in verses 5 and 6 that David responds to this adversity in the exact manner that God asks of us. In this time of loneliness and despair he recalls what he KNOWS to be true of God, that God's love is unfailing, that he is indeed saved by the goodness of the Lord. Not only does he recall these things, but he also sings for joy because the reminders of God's goodness is enough to sustain.

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So... What am I to do with this info?

• First, I believe it is not only good, but required to acknowledge that we are feeling this way. We must admit it to God first, as well as Godly mentors, brothers and sisters so they can pray for and support us through this.

• Second, we must run back to Christ, we want to make certain that the loneliness and the pain felt is a trial, and sanctification that is being done to us by our Lord. And not that we have simply distanced ourselves from Him through a wicked lifestyle and desire for the world over Him. This can be done by repenting of our sins, understanding that we have chosen the world over God, and asking Him to make this right again. We see in Romans 7:15 that Paul acknowledges, "I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.". There will always be a worldly part of us that values sin over the things of God, and this can absolutely drive a wedge between the relationship we have with our Lord. Admit where you have wronged our God and allow Him to restore you.

• Third, we must know and trust in the character of our Lord. We know He is just; we know He is loving; we know He is faithful, and we know how much He values us. As stated, there are two reasons the Lord will feel distant, it is the blessing of us being sanctified by Him, or it is because we are choosing to live life without Him as a priority.

• And finally, be thankful for this feeling. Regardless of the cause of this, you can take comfort in the sorrow and grief you are feeling! I know, I sound insane, but what I am saying is the fact that you are being convicted by this shows the work of the Holy Spirit within your life.