When God seems distant!

Job 38:1-3.12-21

1 And now, finally, GOD answered Job from the eye of a violent storm. He said: 2 "Why do you confuse the issue? Why do you talk without knowing what you're talking about? 3 Pull yourself together, Job! Up on your feet! Stand tall! I have some questions for you, and I want some straight answers. 12 "And have you ever ordered Morning, 'Get up!' told Dawn, 'Get to work!' 13 So you could seize Earth like a blanket and shake out the wicked like cockroaches? 14 As the sun brings everything to light, brings out all the colors and shapes, 15 The cover of darkness is snatched from the wicked-- they're caught in the very act! 16 "Have you ever gotten to the true bottom of things, explored the labyrinthine caves of deep ocean? 17 Do you know the first thing about death? Do you have one clue regarding death's dark mysteries? 18 And do you have any idea how large this earth is? Speak up if you have even the beginning of an answer. 19 "Do you know where Light comes from and where Darkness lives 20 So you can take them by the hand and lead them home when they get lost? 21 Why, of course you know that. You've known them all your life, grown up in the same neighborhood with them! 3 Job answered: 4 "I'm speechless, in awe--words fail me. I should never have opened my mouth! 5 I've talked too much, way too much. I'm ready to shut up and listen."

Food for thought!

After 37 chapters of Job's talk, finally God speaks. Note that for all this time, God has kept silence. No words. Yes, sometimes God keeps quite despite our talking and suffering. Friendships are often tested by separation and silence. Someone has wisely noted, “Any relationship involves times of closeness and times of distance, and in a relationship with God, no matter how intimate, the pendulum will swing from one side to the other.”

To mature your friendship, God will test it with periods of seeming separation—times when it feels as if he has abandoned or forgotten you. These moments of dryness are normal. St. John of the Cross referred to these days of spiritual dryness, doubt, and estrangement from God as “the dark night of the soul.” Henri Nouwen called them “the ministry of absence.”

Besides Jesus, David probably had the closest friendship with God of anyone. God took pleasure in calling him “a man after my own heart.” (1 Samuel 13:14; Acts 13:22). Yet David frequently complained of God’s apparent absence: “Lord, why are you standing aloof and far away? Why do you hide when I need you the most?” (Psalm 10:1). “Why have you forsaken me? Why do you remain so distant? Why do you ignore my cries for help?” (Psalm 22:1) “Why have you abandoned me?” (Psalm 43:2).

Floyd McClung describes it: “You wake up one morning and all your spiritual feelings are gone. You pray, but nothing happens. You rebuke the devil, but it doesn’t change anything. You go through spiritual exercises…you have your friends pray for you…you confess every sin you can imagine, then go around asking forgiveness of everyone you know. You fast…still nothing. You begin to wonder how long this spiritual gloom might last. Days? Weeks? Months? Will it ever end?…it feels as if your prayers simply bounce off the ceiling. In utter desperation, you cry out, ‘What’s the matter with me?’” (Floyd McClung, Finding Friendship with God (Ann Arbor, MI: Vine Books, 1992), 186).

Rick Warren reminds us all, "The truth is, there’s nothing wrong with you! This is a normal part of the testing and maturing of your friendship with God. Every Christian goes through it at least once, and usually several times. It is painful and disconcerting, but it is absolutely vital for the development of your faith.

When God seems distant, you may feel that he is angry with you or is disciplining you for some sin. In fact, sin does disconnect us from intimate fellowship with God. We grieve God’s Spirit and quench our fellowship with him by disobedience, conflict with others, busyness, friendship with the world, and other sins. But often this feeling of abandonment or estrangement from God has nothing to do with sin. It is a test of faith—one we all must face: Will you continue to love, trust, obey, and worship God, even when you have no sense of his presence or visible evidence of his work in your life?"