Why does God feel so distant?
I hear this question all the time. As a matter of fact I even remember asking this question a several times myself. Well here is my devotional from this morning, and Blackaby knocks the answer out of the park. I love the experiencing God day by day devotional which is free at http://www.blackaby.org/.
The only time you ever see Jesus distant from God is on the Cross, when he is bearing the sins of the world. What a great reminder to always draw near to God.
Draw Near to God
Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded.
(James 4:8)
There
may be times when God seems far away. You may feel as if your prayers
go unheard. James said there is a simple reason for this and a
solution. If you are far from God, it is because your sin has separated
you from Him.
God is unchanging. His character stays absolutely holy. His
faithfulness remains constant; it is we who change. We allow sin into
our lives. We choose our own direction. We spend less and less time
with Him in Bible study and prayer. Then one day we realize that we
have gradually grown distant from God. The solution, according to
James, is straightforward. We are to draw near to God. As we realize
our need to be closer to the Father and we begin to return to Him, He
meets us even as the father hurried to greet his prodigal son (Luke
15:20).
Drawing near to God requires you to take two actions. First, you must
cleanse your hands (Isa. 1:15). You must cleanse your way of living. If
you have been actively engaged in sin, you must renounce it. If you
have done anything to offend or hurt someone, you must make it right.
Second, you are to purify your heart (Ps. 51:10). You must make certain
your attitudes, thoughts, and motives are right in God’s eyes and are
in harmony with God’s word. Jesus warned that you cannot serve two
masters (Matt. 6:24). It is impossible to love anything else as much as
you love God and still please Him.
If God seems distant, do what is necessary to cleanse your hands, purify your heart, and draw near to Him.
Posted on July 28, 2008, in Dailey Thoughts, life experiences and tagged Blackaby, Christ follower, Devotional, Jesus, Savior. Bookmark the permalink. 6 Comments.
Hi y’all, praise the name of the Lord. I always feel depressed when I’ve been away from God’s presence or din’t think about him 4 a while……it’s terrible. Hope Ican avoid the feeling
Hello to everyone, I thank the lork for this study it has really helped me to understand more about God being distant. I am doing a study on Purpose driven life. I am on chapter 14 about God being distant. This has been great and I praise God for it. I do a jail ministry with the women in jail. This ministry has truely blessed my soul more than i could ever explain. I’m thankful for God’s calling and me answering may God bless you all Thank you Lynn
God is distant because, he lives in a planet billions of light years away.
Hi! I was surfing and found your blog post… nice! I love your blog.
Cheers! Sandra. R.
Above post with scriptures may be biblical; and they are quoting scripture, but I would like to entertain just for a minute, that this is religion! These scriptures are true, but I believe they are being used wrongly, mans interpretation of Gods ideas. For I know a God who does not call me to condemnation, but calls me in Love, he does not call me to please Him, nor to live by a set of standards, or try to conform or run from my sin, he simply calls me to Himself without any bar that I must reach or try to attain on my own. He takes me as I am, He does not judge, He does not punish me, He forgives me! And through his Love I have learned to run to him; or shall I say he draws me to himself. You see my point is that the above post is well intended and true, but for me that approach has led me away from God never to Him. When I stop trying on my own accord or even on Biblical accords to get to God it rarely has an impact. See God is not no church, He’s not the family with it all together who feels uncomfortable with the sinner in their home, or like a mentor who thinks they are helping someone but in their heart they keep boundries and safe guards because they know they are working with a sick person. God has no fear, God is Love he calls u as u are, and he is doing the work! Let Him Love u! Just Let Go! But there I go again with the my part. Like its my choices, like I have a part in it. If I had a part in it, I would not need a Savior. I will never not Sin on this side. Jesus knows our pain. He knows our need. He knows we dont have what it takes, why do u think he died for us?
Well iwhen you read about Jesus he had compassion, he healed and fed everyone that came his way(IMMEDIATELY)He never told anyone to have patience or wait on an answer,it was done right away.We teach people now-days to pray and wait, or its not gods time or his will.Jesus suffering was different that yours and mine.If i could lay hands on the sick everday and they got well, tell the winds to be still.Raise the dead,open blinded eyes.I could go through anything.According to the Bible we suppose to be able to do these things.Peter and the deciples did.The churches preach this day and time to give a certain vow(money)or the other saying(sow a seed)to get a blessing from god.