Following God When He Feels Distant

January 28, 2024
Trevor Barker
Anxiety, Desiring God, Despair, Emotions, Growing Like Jesus
Voice of the Heart
Psalms

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Following God When He Feels Distant (and the “Law of Undulation”) – Psalm 25

A Psalm Of David.

¹In you, Lord my God,
    I put my trust. ²I trust in you;
    do not let me be put to shame,
    nor let my enemies triumph over me.
³No one who hopes in you
    will ever be put to shame,
but shame will come on those
    who are treacherous without cause.
Psalm 25:1-3

Our feelings of closeness to God go up and down like the weather (as does every other part of our emotional life) – this is the “law of undulation” that C.S.Lewis wrote about in “The Screwtape Letters”. But the reality is that God is always close to us.

David’s current state, when he wrote the 25th Psalm – He felt separation from God, because of his sin, and his feelings of loneliness.

He writes with a pattern: statements, requests and actions

Psalm 25:1-3 in you I trust, let me not be put to shame. When I let go of other things, other joys, don’t let me fall.
Psalm 25:4-5 . He is prepared to wait on God, in faith. In hard times we learn to wait. So teach me your paths.
Psalm 25:6-15 pardon my guilt
Psalm 25:16-22 a string of final requests – his low feelings, even to doubts, “is my faith failing?”, “am I really a Christian?”

¹⁶Turn to me and be gracious to me,
    for I am lonely and afflicted.
¹⁷Relieve the troubles of my heart
    and free me from my anguish.
¹⁸Look on my affliction and my distress
    and take away all my sins.
Psalm 25:16-18

What to do when we feel distant from God.
Rest, exercise, recognise that feelings go up and down and above all remember that God has promised to be near everyone who trusts in Him.

Isaiah 49:15 ‘Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you!
Matthew 11:28, Jesus invites the weary to come – ‘Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.

Like David, lift your soul to God. Bring your requests to Him, who never fails.