40 Days of Purpose: How to worship when God is distant

God is always with us. He is omnipresent. We don’t always feel His presence but just because we don’t feel His presence doesn’t mean He is not there.

Every relationship has times of distance and closeness it’s the same with God. When God feels distant it doesn’t mean anything is wrong. Sure, it could be caused by sin and lack of repentance but it’s likely because He is testing us.

KEY VERSE

“For God has said, ‘I will never leave you; I will never abandon you.’” Hebrews 13:5 TEV

God tests us to help us grow spiritually, it’s important for the development of our faith. God wants us to be spiritually mature and being spiritually mature means we trust God even when we don’t feel His presence.

“I cannot find God anywhere – in front or back of me, to my left or my right. God is always at work, though I never see him. But he knows what I am doing, and when he tests me, I will be pure as gold.” Job 23:8-10 CEV

God tests us because He wants to know if we will continue to love, trust, obey and worship Him even in the hardest of times.

So how do we react in such times? How do we worship when it feels like God isn’t there?

We can follow Job’s example. Job lost everything in a single day. His friends spoke lies to his face about him and his situation but even through his despair Job trusted in God and believed God was in control.

“When Job heard this, he tore his clothes and shaved his head because of his great sorrow. He knelt on the ground, then worshipped God and said: “We bring nothing at birth; we take nothing with us at death. The Lord alone gives and takes. Praise the name of the Lord.” In spite of everything, Job did not sin or accuse God of doing wrong.” Job 1:20-22 CEV

Throughout the book of Job we see Job focusing on who God is, trusting in God’s promises, remembering what God has done and expressing how he feels to God. It is these four things that show us how to worship even when God feels distant.

TELL GOD HOW YOU FEEL

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God always wants us to be honest with Him about how we feel. Even if we can’t feel God’s presence we should pour out our feelings to Him.

Job was filled with bitterness when he lost everything but he took that bitterness he felt to God (Job 7:11). David also faced times of distance with God. Many of the psalms are filled with his feelings about such times.

“I believed, even when I said, “I am severely oppressed.” Psalm 116:10 CSB

David believed in God even when things got tough. Job too believed when things were at their worst. From them we follow the example set before us that no matter how bad things get we come to God. Admitting how hopeless things are can be a statement of faith as we see in Psalm 116, because belief is more important than our feelings.

Feelings are fickle and no relationship should be based on only feelings such a relationship is shallow. God wants more than a shallow relationship, He wants an intimate relationship with us.

FOCUS ON WHO GOD IS

God is eternal, He doesn’t change. His goodness and mercy have never changed nor have His other characteristics. When we face times where God is distant we focus on who God is. We focus on the truth that the bible speaks about Him and we worship Him based on truth, not our feelings.

TRUST GOD KEEPS HIS PROMISES

When we focus on the truth we are reminded that God always stays true to His Word and whatever we may feel or whatever circumstance we are in they will change or end because God keeps His promises. He has never broken a single promise.

In distant times God wants us to trust Him and believe in His Word. If God has stayed true so far why would He change now? We can worship the fact that our God doesn’t change, He is eternal and reliable. We can depend on Him more than anyone or anything.

“I have not departed from the commands from his lips; I have treasured the words from his mouth more than my daily food.” Job 23:12 CSB

God is our friend, He doesn’t give up on us and this test of faith is our chance to prove our faith to Him.

REMEMBER WHAT GOD HAS DONE FOR YOU

God has done more for us than keeping promises. He loves us beyond our comprehension. When God feels distant we must remember He has been faithful in bringing us through our trials this far and He won’t stop now.

The best thing He did for us was to let His son die in our place, for our sins so that we can live with Him forever. He loves us that much and it is the greatest reason we have to worship as if we didn’t have enough reasons to worship Him.

God is always with us, and when we don’t feel His presence or when He has gone silent it is no reason to think He has given up on us. He does this to make sure we grow and continue to choose Him. If we don’t choose Him and fall into sin again He is faithful to forgive but when He does test us, which could be every day for all we know, we should be obedient and continue to follow the path He has set before us. We should be faithful to continue our lifestyle of worship.

Trust, Remember, Focus and Express – these are how we worship when we can’t feel God or hear Him. This is how we stay faithful.

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