Day 14: When God Seems Distant

Ever wondered sometimes whether God REALLY exists? Especially when situations and circumstances are not pleasant? Well, God is REAL, and He EXISTS, no matter what we go thru. Sometimes we may feel that He's a million miles away, but that doesn't mean He's not real. We may wake up one morning and all spiritual feelings are gone. We pray, but nothing happens. We rebuke the devil, but it doesn't change anything. We go thru spiritual exercises, we have friends praying for us, we confess every sin we can imagine, we fast, do everything we can think of, but still nothing happens. Feels like our prayers just bounce off the ceiling.

It is but a part of testing and maturing of our friendship with God. Every Christian goes thru it at least once. Definitely painful and discouraging, but it is essential for the development of our faith! Will we continue to love, trust, obey and worship God, even when we have no sense of His presence or visible evidence of His work in our lives? Will we?

Worship and friendship with God is not based on our emotions and feelings. We cannot seek an experience (feelings) when we worship. We need to seek GOD! He does want us to sense His presence, but He's more concerned that we trust him than that we feel Him. Faith, not feelings, pleases God. Remember Job in the bible? His life basically fell apart in one day and God was nowhere to be found. It really stretched his faith.

How do we praise God when we don't understand whats going on and God is silent? How do we stay sane without God speaking into our lives? How do we keep our eyes on Jesus when they're full of tears? We do what Job did. Job1:20-21

1. Tell God exactly how we feel.
Everything. Anything.

2. Focus on who God is - His unchanging nature.
Remind ourselves of what is eternally true about Him - He is good, He loves me, He is with me, He knows what i'm going thru, He'll provide, He knows and has the best plans for my life, He is in control!

3. Trust God to keep His promises.
We must patiently rely on His promises. God is never too early or too late. He is always on time. His promises are yes and Amen! Hold on to His word!

4. Remember what God has already done for you!
He deserves our continual praise because of what Jesus did on the cross! Remember what cruelty He had to go thru, just to save you and i! This is the greatest reason for worship!! He gave up everything, so that we could have everything. He died so we could live forever. That alone is worthy of our continue thanks and praise. NEVER again should we wonder what to be thankful for.