Do you long to hear the voice of God? To feel His presence? King David expresses this longing many times throughout the psalms. One of my favorites being Psalm 63:1 “O god, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.”
You can feel the desperation in his words, longing to be in the presence of God and hear from him. It is one of the most amazing moments in life when you feel the Creator of the universe speaking to you.
But what about when you can’t feel it?
When you feel far from God, the enemy uses one of his most useful tools…doubt. He starts filling our overactive minds with lies.
“He doesn’t love me anymore”
“I must have sinned and he is withholding Himself from me.”
“Am I really saved?”
The lies begin trickling in and doubt takes over. Doubt of “why can’t I hear from Him anymore.” This becomes especially hard when you have experienced His presence and His voice previously but struggle now.
Anyone that has been a Christian for some time can tell you about the times that they have felt far from God. Silence can be difficult.
However, we can remain steadfast in this one truth. We have assurance from God that He will never leave us.
Mathew 28:20 “and behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
Deuteronomy 31:6 “…He will not leave or forsake you.”
If we can be sure that our Lord never leaves us, why do we doubt His presence? Why can it be hard to feel Him with us or hear His voice?
Here are three common reasons why we may struggle.
- Distractions
- Sanctification
- Failing to Listen
If the enemy can keep you distracted, he will win the battle. One of the top reasons people do not feel the presence of God, is that they 1) do not choose to spend time with Him, or 2) are too distracted to notice Him.
How much of your day revolves around your relationship with our Lord?
Do you spend just a few minutes in the morning with Him, but the rest of your day is filled with the world?
John Bunyan says, “He who runs from God in the morning will scarcely find Him the rest of the day.”
Perhaps we are the ones who are too distracted to notice a God who is speaking to us constantly, but we aren’t looking or listening. I encourage you to spend consistent time throughout the day with a mindset of heaven.
“Fix your eyes” on Him and void yourself of distractions from our Heavenly Father.
Another reason for our seeming lack of noticing God can be that of our own sanctification. There are times in our lives when we will experience trials and occasionally in those trials, we can feel a distance from God.
Many throughout history refer to this period in our lives as the “Dark Night of the Soul.” A time when we long for God with desperation but struggle to feel His presence.
There are times when God uses these times to grow our resolve and our dependence on Him. Of course, it feels amazing to feel His presence, and when we do, this makes us want to lean in and seek Him. But when we don’t “feel” those amazing emotions, do we still lean into Him? We should not be consumer Christians where we only lean on God and seek Him because of the feelings he invokes in us.
We need, with faith, to realize He is with us “always to the end of the age” despite when we feel it or not. These periods of silence really test our faith. We can ask ourselves this…is it silence? Or is it sanctification?
Our final point to visit, is our lack of noticing God. If you look back at your lives, it may be quite easy to recognize the ways God has shaped your life. This is wonderful of course, but how amazing is it when we recognize God working in our daily lives.
If you walk throughout your day with heavenly lenses, you will see that God is everywhere, all around us. He speaks to us with His beautiful creation, with birds and sunsets. He speaks to us with encounters with Christian men and women where we can be mutually encouraged. He speaks to us in little things throughout the day, but so many times we are not looking or realizing it.
I encourage you that when you wake up in the morning and go throughout your day, try to picture everything you encounter as an act of God. It truly is! He is active and constantly engaging with us and with the world we are in. Just look for it!
We should all long for God, the way that David constantly describes. When we feel like God is distant, and we are longing for Him, this is not the time to be discouraged and withdraw but instead lean in and love our God without transaction. Love Him just because of who He is. Love Him because you know in your heart, with faith, that whether you feel Him there or not, He has not and will never leave you.
I’ll leave you again with Deuteronomy 31:6, “be strong and courageous. Do not fear or be in dread of them, for it is the Lord your God who goes with you. He will not leave or forsake you.”
Steadfast Faith Ministries 
Leave a comment