Is God Distant or Is He just Silent?
Many people say God feels distant. But we can’t trust our feelings in spiritual matters. But I understand if God feels distant, it’s easy to also doubt his existence. And that can cause all kinds of problems. But is there anything we could do? Is God distant or is he just silent?
Sometimes God is silent and then we just need to wait. We all get dry spells along our spiritual journey, the trick is to know what to do while we are waiting. Even then the Bible will refresh our souls and praying is a way to unload our minds and receive peace.
The main thing is to accept the fact that sometimes God is silent yet it does not mean he would have forgotten us. It might be a season where we are prepared for something new. So if you’re in a period of waiting: rest in peace. Keep on calling God and know that he has not forgotten you. In God’s time, you will hear from him. And in the meantime, praise him anyway. Praise will always bring blessings into your life.
Is God Distant or Is He just Silent?
But very often it is we who have – purposefully or not – distanced ourselves from God and then there are lots of things we can do. We can start by turning back to God and start seeking him with everything we’ve got. Prayer, reading Scriptures and finding a community of believers are all wonderful things to help us to get to know God more.
The happy thing about this situation is the fact that God is always waiting for his prodigal sons and daughters to return to him. He is not proud, he will always take us back no matter how badly we have insulted him. But let’s not wait too long. The prodigal life is not what it appears to be and it silently destroys our souls. And there’s nothing better than the feast with our loving Father anyway.
All that My Father gives Me will come to Me; and the one who comes to Me I will most certainly not cast out [I will never, never reject anyone who follows Me]. (John 6:37, AMP,*)
God’s promises are always true and valid
And a feast is what our heavenly father has promised to us. And that feast can start already today. Because of Jesus, that feast can be found in his presence right now and right here. And that feast does not depend on how we feel or how silent God is.
That feast depends on God and his promises for his children. And every single of the promises is true and valid now and forever. So if you are a child of God, it is time to feast no matter how you feel. “Soon and very soon, we are going to see the King. Hallelujah, Hallelujah, we are going to see the King!”
Gracious God,
Thank you for always being there for us,
thank you for sending Jesus to save us.
We praise you for waiting for us to come to you.
Thank you that your promises us true no matter how we feel.
Strengthen us to handle dry spells on our faith journey.
Help to understand to feast in you every day of our lives
and look forward to the amazing eternal feast when we finally get home to you.
In Jesus’ name,
Amen
Q4U: Do you feel that God is distant or is he just silent? How do you handle it?
Be blessed, my fellow pilgrim, as you keep on praying no matter what’s going on in your life!
* [As you might have noticed, I enjoy reading the Bible in different translations and love comparing them. I have started linking the Bible verses to Biblegateway.com so you can easily read (and compare) them in the different versions I’ve used while preparing each post.]
Photo by Finding Dan | Dan Grinwis on Unsplash. Linking up today with Dance with Jesus and Five-minute Friday.