Mar 8, 2011
Why God is Distant Sometimes: Part 2-Making Things Worse
Distance from God because of sin is bad enough without making up more sins, guilt, and despair on our own. Sin certainly creates a distance between us and God, but we don’t necessarily need sin to do that. We can handle that quite well on our own.
That isn’t to say that we are at fault whenever we feel distant from God. However, it will help us to eliminate some possibilities when we sense we are far from God.
Some struggle with this more than others, but here are a few ways we can isolate ourselves from God:
Expectations
I’ve expected God to show up for me in a particular way, and then felt disappointed when he didn’t. After seeing God show up for someone else or even revealing himself to me in the past, I’ve expected God to keep revealing himself in the same way.
Sometimes the Jewish leaders asked Jesus to show them a particular sign or miracle so that they could believe, but Jesus didn’t always give them what they asked for or expected. God defines the time, place, and means of his revelation. Our place is one of attention and awareness to him so that we’re ready to receive him when he shows up.
Moses didn’t expect to find God in a burning bush.
Guilt
We can feel bad in general when God doesn’t show up in the ways we expect or because we don’t have a certain kind of spiritual life. While Godly sorrow leads us to repentance and restoration, it’s possible to just feel bad and inadequate on an ongoing basis.
Guilt can creep in when we compare ourselves to others and minimize what God is doing in our own lives. If guilt is keeping you from God, then you can rest assured that it needs to be surrendered. We can use guilt as a crutch, “I’m a bad Christian, but so long as I feel guilty about it, I’m OK.”
God intends his people to be free from guilt, able to enjoy his presence with freedom.
Tomorrow’s Post: Drawing Near to God
