This past Sunday, I had a short but great conversation with a young man in our church. After service he asked me a question that I, and I think every follower of Christ has at some point asked, “Why don’t I feel God anymore?“
It seems that every person experiences this feeling at some point in their walk with Christ. Many people have incredible moments in their lives when they first experience God and are swept away with His love and grace and their need for Him. Following this experience is a season of fun, refreshment, excitement, newness – whatever you might call it. But then something happens… it’s as if the puppy love effect wears off and something changes. When we pray, it doesn’t feel the same. When we worship, there aren’t any more goose bumps. When we read the Bible, the words aren’t leaping off the pages like they were before. Why?
Here are 3 basics reasons this happens, then I’ll close on the most important issue we have to come to grips with.
1) The Enemy Factor
There is no doubt that the moment you became a follower of Christ, you changed teams, you switched sides – and the enemy, Satan, is hacked off about it. Before, when you were a non-believing heathen with no hope of heaven or purpose for your life, he didn’t care about you. But all that has changed now and he would like to do nothing more than pulverize you (John 10:10). One of the mis-perceptions of new believers is that now that you are a Christian, everything will get easier. That’s not entirely true. What is true is that there is a demonic force against you – challenging you, fighting you, pressuring you. But the beauty of Christianity is not that you won’t go through anything bad anymore. The beauty of Christianity is that no matter what you go through Christ will be with you, even when you can’t feel Him.
2) The Sin Factor
The sin factor is real and works in a deadly cycle against you. The cycle is simple: Sin separates you from God. Seperation from God makes it easier to sin. That sin pushes you further from God.
The way to break that sin cycle in your life is to develop a lifestyle of repentance whereby you are confessing sin and moving your life in the opposite direction from it. This is where life gets real practical. Sometimes you have to change the company you keep, change the places you go and remove the ungodly influence in your life.
3) The Parent Factor
This one might be the hardest to understand but I believe is still true. God is always trying to help us grow and mature in Him. Like any good parent, He doesn’t want us to settle for somthing less than our best. Let me explain it like this… When my son, Peyton, was learning to swim I would have him let go of the wall and swim toward me. In his fear, he would always want me as close as possible and wouldn’t even let go if I got too far away. But as soon as he would let go and begin to swim toward me, I would take a step back. If he was still doing good, I would take another step back. All to try and build his little muscles and even more build his confidence that he could do it while still staying close enough to cathch him when he neeed me. Just remember that sometimes when you don’t feel His presence, it is a sign to you that you need to pursue Him all the more.
Closing:
Some of you are reading that quick list and are still wondering when you will feel that closeness with God. Here is something that you must come to grips with. God is not a God of feeling, He is a God of Faith. There are going to be times in your life when all hell is breaking loose in your life and you just don’t know where God is. That’s OK. These are the times when you have to trust what He said and continue to follow. Here are a couple of scriptures to store in your memory bank.
Joshua 1:9
Psalms 139:7-10
