When God seems far away

Chapter 22. Eliphaz again. I wonder how many of you are still with me.

Eliphaz: Do you think any of us can actually add anything to God? He doesn’t need us to make Him look good. He is perfectly good with or without our efforts. If He disciplines or corrects you, it’s for your good, not His.

Anyway, you’re human and no human is perfect. All of us have sinned. All of us do the wrong thing every single day at some point. Or don’t do the right thing. We don’t always notice or meet the needs of the people around us. We’re not always welcoming or hospitable. We don’t always help when we could. You were given so much and yet how good were you at sharing some of that with those in need around you? I’m not having a go, but I do think that’s why you’re suffering now.

I feel like you’re saying God is not in control and doesn’t know what He is doing. That He doesn’t care or doesn’t see what is happening to you. But God is in the heights of heaven, way above anything we can imagine. You’re saying the same things as those who don’t know God. Wanting God to leave you alone. Not believing that God can help you. You didn’t say that when God was blessing you with good things, did you?

Submit to God. Surrender to His ways. Find a way to trust Him and be at peace with Him. That’s the only way things will ever go well for you again.

Find a way to accept what is happening to you. Stop fighting it. See what you can learn from it. Use it as a way to develop your faith. If you find a way to stop fighting, you will be restored. You won’t need any of the treasures you used to have, because God will be your gold and silver. Your treasure will be resting in the presence of God. As you do that, you will talk to Him and He will hear. You will get to know His will more and desire to do His will more. In that way, what you ask God for will be done. And then you will make a difference to the lives of others too.

Like Job, we can waste a lot of energy wishing things were different.

Like Job, we can waste a lot of energy trying to make sense of that which will never make sense.

Like Job, we can waste a lot of energy trying to find someone or something else to blame.

Like Job, we can waste a lot of energy wrapped up in regret and bitterness.

So what is the way forward? The better way? God’s way?

Submit to God. Surrender to His ways. Find a way to trust Him and be at peace with Him. That’s the only way things will ever go well for you again.

Find a way to accept what is happening to you. Stop fighting it. See what you can learn from it. Use it as a way to develop your faith. If you find a way to stop fighting, you will be restored.

Job: I know I’m going on, but there has been no relief from this pain and suffering for as long as I can remember now. I can’t stop complaining. I can’t stop groaning. There’s been no let up.

God feels far away. Too far away to hear me or see me. If I knew where to go to find Him, I’d go, believe me. I would stand before Him and state my case. And He would answer and I would be able to consider what He had to say. I don’t think He would crush me. I don’t think He would blame me.

But if I started travelling to the east, I wouldn’t find Him.

If I went to the west, He wouldn’t be there.

If I look to the north, I can’t see Him.

If I turn to the south, I can’t catch a glimpse of Him there either.

But He knows where I am. He knows the journey I’m on. He is testing me in the fire and I will come out of it like pure gold. I haven’t rejected Him. I have stayed faithful. I have obeyed all of His commands. I have done the right thing. I have treasured His every promise.

But He is all-powerful and can do whatever He wants. Of course, I’m afraid of Him in some ways. Who knows but Him what He still has in store for me? What the rest of my life will be. It’s hard to trust. I’m scared of what the future holds. It terrifies me. God’s power terrifies me.

Why can’t He give us an idea of dates and times for our suffering so that we can plan and endure and survive for a season? It’s the not knowing that’s killing me.

There are so many people doing such bad things. Extortion. Exploitation. Greed. Theft. Murder. Adultery. So many people in desperate need whose needs are not being met. No food. No shelter. No security. No clothes. No drink. God seems to let all of that carry on without intervening.

People go their own way and do their own thing in the dark, thinking that no one will see them.That they won’t get caught. They don’t want to come out into the light for fear that people will see them for who they really are.

But God knows. God sees. They may feel they are safe and secure but they are not. No one can hide from God.

You all know what I’m saying. You all know I’m right.

So what can we do when God feels far away? When we want Him to be tangible, to sit beside us and hold our hand. To be physically there. Because at times, we can’t feel His presence any more. It’s clouded by our grief. Confused by our suffering. What we are going through is occupying so much of our minds and hearts that we can’t see past it. We know we need Him, but we can’t sense Him with us and in us any more.

We are not alone. On the cross in his physical and mental anguish, Jesus cried out –

About three in the afternoon Jesus cried out in a loud voice, ‘Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?’ (which means ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’).  Matthew 27:46

Jesus, the most perfect human being who ever lived, felt alone. Jesus, the son of God, felt abandoned.

These words are an echo of words from the Psalms –

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, so far from my cries of anguish? Psalm 22:1

David, the greatest king of Israel, felt alone. David, the man of God, felt abandoned.

There’s a language of pain that runs through the whole Bible. Individuals feeling far from God in their pain and suffering. We are not alone.

So what can we do?

Wait. Don’t give up. Keep seeking Him. Crying out to Him.

Find a way to trust that this is just for a season. Read some of the Psalms that express this language of pain so well and make the words your own when you’ve run out of your own words eg. Psalm 6, Psalm 13, Psalm 22, Psalm 90.

Don’t be afraid to talk about it. There’s nothing to feel ashamed of. It happens.

Rely on others. Rely on the faith and prayers of those around you. Let them be there for you. Let them hold your hand. Let them be God’s hands and feet and voice for you.

We are not alone. We will never be alone. Whatever we feel, God has promised that He will never abandon us and He is faithful.