When You Feel Far From God

If we are honest, we would answer, "Yes!"  Sometimes, you can feel so far away from God that you begin to wonder if He really exists, and if it is really worth it to keep trying to live for Him.  Sometimes we feel as though we are on an island, and no one else understands where we are.  Yet we are too embarrassed to call out for help.

So what do we do?  What I am about to say is not anything brand new.  It may not even excite you.  In fact, you may feel a little let down, because you were looking for the magic foo-foo dust to fix you right up.  Sorry, magic foo-foo dust doesn't exist.

First, we have to figure out why and how we got to this point.  There are two main reasons: perpetual sin and apathy.  Perpetual sin is the sin that we choose to do repeatedly even though we know it is wrong.  Psalm 19 refers to these as presumptuous or willful sins.  This would be things like habitual lying, drunkenness, pornography, adultery, stealing, etc.  You know, the things that we Christians talk about others doing, but we have never been involved in any of them (of course, I am not being serious).  These things tend to have a spiraling downward effect.  The more we do them, the more we hate that we do them, yet the further we feel from God.  These are sins of commission.

Apathy deals with just not caring about God or things that God cares about.  This is when we stop praying, stop studying our Bible, stop witnessing, maybe even stop going to church.  We just literally don't care.  We go through life, go to work, and then pursue our pleasures (which may not even be bad things!) instead of pursuing God.  After all, it is hard work to live for God.  Apathy is sin of omission.

So what do we do?  First of all, regardless if it is perpetual sin or apathy, confess your sin to God.  All throughout the Bible, God repeatedly forgives the most heinous sins.  People of Israel - made an idol of gold and worshipped it; forgiven.  David - slept with a woman and killed her husband; forgiven.  Peter - denied he even knew Jesus; forgiven.  Paul - killed Christians; forgiven.  1 John 1:9 is such a beautiful promise to believers.  It tells us that every time we confess our sin, God is faithful to forgive us and wipe away our iniquity.  God will forgive as many times as we ask for it.

Second, or more appropriately, 1a, humble yourself before God.  This is needed as a part of confession of sin.  James 4:10 says, "Humble yourselves before the Lord, and He will exalt you."  Acknowledge who you are and who God is.  He is the Almighty One.  You are His creation.  We are specks of dust compared to Him.

Third, spend time reading God's Word.  This is a tough one.  Because when we feel this way, we don't want to read the Bible.  We don't feel like doing it.  This is where we have to overtake our feelings and do what we know is right.  And when I say spend time reading, I don't mean 12 minutes.  I mean hours.  Carve out some time to get away, shut your cell phone off, turn off Facebook and Twitter and read and study God's Word.  Take notes, underline verses and even memorize some things.

Fourth, pray.  Pray for real.  Don't just pray to thank God for the food.  Don't just pray at bedtime.  Pray and tell God everything that is on your heart and mind.  He already knows it, but He wants that intimate communication.  Pray about your family.  Pray about work.  Pray about your feelings.  Pray about what you are studying in the Bible.  Pray about everything in your life.  The great thing about prayer is that we don't have to use some prayer from a book, we don't have to have some beads and recite things.  Prayer is personal communication with God.  When Jesus died on the cross, the veil leading into the Holy of Holies in the Temple was torn in half, signifying our ability to go right to the throne of grace.  That is an amazing blessing, and we need to take advantage of it.

We all go through the roller coast life of being a Christian.  But don't stay down low.  Do the work it takes to get back up and live for God!  You won't regret it!