What Do You Do when God Seems Distant?

Life is a mess... children are acting crazy... economy going down... you've gained weight... what you thought was a good relationship ended so bad... marriage on life support... about to get evicted... whatever your situation is, you may feel like God is nowhere in the picture. How do you continue through bad situations when you feel like God has left the scene?

Like anyone I've had my share of situations where I felt like life was jacked up. I remember in college when my grades had plummeted in the first quarter I was there... I thought it was over... but God helped me get my grades back up, and not only get back up but get them to a respectable place. I remember when my mom passed and it happened so suddenly and I was really wondering why... but God helped me through it and I was able to help others who were trying to help me. I had a time where I was in some financial struggles and God worked it out and brought me current. I'm usually confident about the end result; my struggle sometimes comes in during the period between the beginning of the test and the end of the test.

I wish I had some great formula on how to know that God is there, but I really don't. All I can say is that you have to trust that He's there. If God is everywhere at all times like He says He is, then you just have to take Him at His word. Have you ever had a test in school? All of your classmates are there, even your teacher is there, but the whole room is quiet? It's somewhat like that. Your teacher is there but you're taking a test. The teacher talks when you need to be taught, but when you need to show the teacher what you've learned the teacher is quiet. At times I believe it works the same way with God... when we go through our situations we might not hear God as much, except for the things He's previously taught us and what we know about Him through other people's experiences.

When God seems distant, He's actually still there. Could it be... that you've walked away from Him? Could it be that the distance has started with you? Maybe an incident happened and you prayed for one thing and got another result, so then you got mad or offended at God and decided you'd never pray again... decided that you'd never talk to Him again. Isn't that like human nature? When we don't get what we want sometimes we throw these tantrums like a two-year old thinking it's going to get results some kind of way. It's not up to God to chase after you... it's up to you to go after Him. When He moves, you move. When you move, He doesn't have to. He knows where you are, but do you know where He is?

When God seems distant, that's when you need to put the hurt aside... put the questions aside... and go back to basics. Who is God to you? What has He done that you cannot deny? Why do you feel like He isn't there? Have you done what He has asked you to do lately? Keep these questions in mind in this time of sorting out where the distance is coming from. You'll probably find that He's not that far away at all... you may just be looking for Him in the wrong direction.