What do we do when God seems distant? You pray, but your prayers don’t feel like they get past the ceiling. When you read the Bible, God seems to be silent. Even when you seek God, it seems as if He is hiding. You aren’t the only one who has experienced this; scripturally, you are in good company. David, a man after God’s heart (1 Sam. 12:14), even experienced something similar.
How Long?
David was a songwriter and expressed his emotions in the poem of Psalm 13. He repeats the haunting question four times, “How long?”
Psalm 13:1 O Lord, how long will you forget me? Forever? How long will you look the other way? 2 How long must I struggle with anguish in my soul, with sorrow in my heart every day? How long will my enemy have the upper hand?[1]
It seemed that God had forgotten him and would continue to forget him. At the very least, it felt that God was purposely looking the other way. He had been a fugitive for years as he ran from King Saul, and the strain was beginning to show. He had plenty of time to think, and waiting for God to move was becoming more difficult.
“The idea of the Hebrew in verse 2 is that of adding one thought to another in an attempt to get out of the difficulty, but they all fail and just add sorrow to sorrow. At night David made his plans, and by day he tried them, but they were all futile, just causing him more grief.”[2] Meanwhile, his enemy, probably King Saul, seems to be living the good life in his palace. I’m sure it didn’t feel fair to David, and David let God know.
Trust God’s Love
All we can do when God seems distant is to trust that He is good and loves us. Realize that His timetable and ours are much different. God uses times of waiting to train us and call us to draw near to a deeper relationship. God wastes nothing and can use these times to mature our faith and prepare us for the next season. While these times may not be pleasant, they can be helpful in the bigger picture.
God promises to always be with us. Isaiah 41: 10 Don’t be afraid, for I am with you. Don’t be discouraged, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you. I will hold you up with my victorious right hand.[3]
To learn more about surviving times when God seems distant, listen here:
https://podpoint.com/light-of-christ-church-podcast/lament-how-long
[1,3]Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188.
[2] https://bible.org/seriespage/psalm-13-when-god-seems-distant,