EVER WONDER WHY? 

WHEN GOD FEELS FAR AWAY

December 10, 2023    Sam Goins 

I know the Lord is always with me. I will not be shaken, for he is right beside me. No wonder my heart is glad, and I rejoice. ... You will show me the way of life, granting me the joy of your presence and the pleasures of living with you forever.    Psalm 16:8-9, 11 NLT 

But I cry to you for help, Lord; in the morning my prayer comes before you. Why, Lord, do you reject me and hide your face from me?        Psalm 88:13-14 NIV 

WHY DON’T WE ALWAYS FEEL GOD?  

1. Maybe I’m over sensationalizing God’s presence. 

So they asked [Jesus], “What sign then will you give that we may see it and believe you? What will you do?”   John 6:30 NIV 

If I always felt God, I wouldn’t need faith. 

2. Maybe my heart has hardened.  

… “‘You will be ever hearing but never understanding; you will be ever seeing but never perceiving. For this people’s heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. …’”   Matthew 13:14-15 NIV 

3. Maybe God just wants to draw me closer.  

“From one man [God] made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us.”   Acts 17:26-27 NIV 

“You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you,” declares the Lord ...   Jeremiah 29:13-14 NIV 

Just because God feels distant doesn’t mean God is absent. 

… an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” (which means “God with us”).   Matthew 1:20-23 NIV 

I know the Lord is always with me. I will not be shaken, for he is right beside me. 

Psalm 16:8 NLT