Chances are that in your Christian walk you have felt this distance before. You have felt like something just wasn't right & there was this huge gap between you & the Lord.
Take a look at Job. A great servant of the Lord known to fear God, obey God & live his life for Him. Also a man of great wealth. Had a huge family, tons of livestock & simply had it all. Then Satan comes creeping into the presence of God one day & God offers Job to be tested by Satan. Just like that. God has such confidence in Job's faithfulness that he literally hands everything but Job's mortality over to Satan's dispense. What a test.
And Satan takes everything. Takes his livestock, all of his children, all his servants & even his health. Satan covers his entire body in boils & literally takes it all. Job went from having everything to having nothing. Nothing but a wife & 3 friends who constantly encouraged him to curse God & die. But Job never wavered. He never lost faith. Despite all he went through, Job believed in God's promises & remained faithful to the end.
Now why did Job go through that? Why did Job lose everything? Because God was testing him. God allowed Satan to test Job to prove His faithfulness to Job & Job's faithfulness back to him.
Now back to you. Why do you feel distant from God? Why do you go through the things you go through that just make you feel like God is far away? It's safe to say Job felt like God was a pretty good distance from Him. So here's a few reasons why you may feel the distance:
- Test --> God is simply testing you. Just like Job, He is allowing you to go through tough times or difficult experiences just to test your faithfulness. He isn't gone. He's just testing your faith.
- Sin --> whenever you choose sin & yourself over God, you're naturally going to feel distant. If you continually choose to live your life in the wrong direction, the distance will be inevitable.
So what do you do? How do you close the gap? Simple: STAY.
- STAY in the Bible --> you must read God's Word daily. Cannot express the power of God's Word to know Him in such an intimate way.
- STAY in prayer --> you have to communicate with God. Simply talk to Him. Talk to Him & listen to what He is telling you.
- STAY in church --> be consistent & faithful to go. Be available to hear God's Word being taught & be an active component in the body of Christ.
And these principles apply to your spiritual life whether you feel like God is the furthest thing from you or if you feel like you are walking side-by-side. Whether you feel dead or on fire, you must STAY. And it's when you continue to be faithful that God restores you. When you continue to live your life for Him & choose Him over this world that He comes & makes you know He is right by your side.
God is always faithful. He just wants you to be faithful back to Him. Will you STAY?
JV
