When God Seems Distant

This morning as I was sitting in my living room, I heard a banging at one of our windows. I looked and there fluttering his wings furiously was a little baby robin. He was doing his best to fly through the glass and enter our house. After several intense moments of doing all he could to try to penetrate the glass, he flew away.

The experience of this little bird reminds me of what I experience at times when I pray. There are times that God seems a long way off - that He is removed and distant. And when I do try to pray and communicate with Him, it is as if there is some invisible barrier between us - just like that glass was a barrier to that little bird. If you are anything like me, I am sure you have had this experience, too. God seems far off .... distant ... unconcerned about my pressing needs and wants. My friend, when these times come, don't start wondering if there is something wrong with you. God's people have often gone through these times of spiritual darkness. Consider, for example, Psalm 13:1 which reads, "How long, O LORD ? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me?" This was a frequent cry of the psalmists. You see, we are emotional beings. And for reasons that I will not get into in this posting, our emotions can easily get depressed. And in these depressed states, it is easy to feel that God is miles and miles (if not an entire universe) away! But let me encourage you not to allow your feelings to dictate your faith. Cling to the truth of God's Word that clearly tells us that no matter what we feel -- God is always with us (just read Psalm 139 and Hebrews 13:5-6 for starters)!!!

Thanks for stopping by . . .

pj

P.S. Sometimes this feeling of distance may be due to unconfessed sin in our lives. In Isaiah 59:1-2 reads, "Surely the arm of the LORD is not too short to save, nor his ear too dull to hear ²But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear." So we must, when feeling this sense of distance from God examine our hearts for sin. If we find it, repentance and confession must be followed so we can be restored to our fellowship with God.