Closer Than You Think

We've all felt the distance between us and God before, and I'm sure at some point every one of us has mumbled the phrase "He feels so far away right now" or something to that extent. Have you ever thought about exactly what that means or how things came to be that way? Maybe you have and you never really did figure out what caused it.

First, you have to understand the message of God's grace - a promise of grace is made to us in the Word over and over again, and alongside grace comes a whole slew of other promises: peace, mercy, rest, redemption - it's all right here waiting for us. But most of us choose (whether we realize it or not) to ignore it and keep on living life the way everyone else does.

Second, when God says He'll never leave you or forsake you, He's not just saying nice things - this is a promise! He also makes it clear that there is absolutely nothing that can separate you from His love, which means that once you have found His love, you can never ever lose it. Between these two promises, there is no possible way to be distant from God unless you, yourself, are the problem. God doesn't distance Himself from us; we distance ourselves from Him.

Think about this: how many times have you had a little voice trying to get your attention, and you've known it was God, and you pushed it away for whatever reason? How about those times when you've had a thought from the enemy come in, and rather than answering to it with God's Word, you continue to feed it until it overwhelms your spirit? What if God was your very best earthly friend - if you continued to push them away, how long would it take for them to begin feeling distant from you? But you can't blame that on them - that is ALL YOU!

Most of us can bring up a specific time in our lives that we have felt that distance from God, perhaps like He left you stranded high and dry in the middle of the worst desert of your life. But if what we just determined about God never leaving us is true, then isn't it, instead, us leaving Him in the middle of the desert, saying we can do this on our own? How do we find our way back to letting Him lead us through the desert instead of wandering in the dust and sand by ourselves?

Take a look at Psalm 42. The writer of this Psalm is in exile, most likely removed from the land of Jordan (The Promised Land). There are four things that the Psalmist does to remind himself of God's nearness. Set aside some time to go through these steps yourself:

• Acknowledge the places you've been putting your hope rather than in God. In verses 5 and 11, the writer tells his soul to put its "hope in God" and acknowledges that his soul has been looking elsewhere for hope.
• Talk to God about it - tell Him your feelings, your failures, everything, and repent. In verses 1-4, the writer is expressing everything he is feeling, not holding back, knowing that all he is has already been made exposed to God. In verse 6 he says directly to God that he is feeling down and out.
• Take some time to list and remember all the ways God has worked in your life. Continuing in verse 6 through verse 8, the writer begins to list the different situations where God has come through for him, both in the closeness of their relationship (verse 4) and in the times where He allowed catastrophe (verse 7).
• Recommit your hope to Him and PRAISE Him! In verse 11, the writer gives again the command to his soul to put its hope in God. This command continues on in Psalm 43, a continuation of this prayer.

For further reading and study: Hebrews 3-4 (NIV) talks about the importance of staying near to God and the blessings of rest that come from our obedience in that. (See labels below for more references)