Has God Forgotten Me?
How Long, O Lord?
Perhaps you have had the common spiritual experience of feeling distant from God, as if He were absent. It is common to have seasons of life where the Lord seems to have hidden Himself from us.
The Psalmist likewise speaks of this spiritual drought in Psalm 13:1, ESV: “How long, O LORD? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me?”
These are the times when we do not feel the warmth of God’s countenance and love directly upon us, as if His shine was blocked by the clouds. Our hearts feel cold, our spiritual zeal seems sapped — is the Lord near? And yet, we know that Christ is always with us (Matthew 28:20), that He will never leave us nor forsake us (Hebrews 13:5).
Christians must live in biblical tension that God will never leave His covenant people and yet at times He may hide His face from us. What is God’s purpose in hiding His face from His people (Psalm 88:14)?
Common Causes of Spiritual Coldness
What is it that causes or accompanies these spiritual dry seasons? What are the reasons we feel estranged from our first love? While we cannot always trace these experiences to direct causes, we can notice a common reality that runs in front of these days: sinfulness.
Is it not true that we find our spiritually dark days to be followed by our darkest feelings? The times when we are least in the Word, furthest away from the gathering of the saints, and distanced from the Lord in prayer are common causes of spiritual desertion and coldness.
Similarly, when we find ourselves indulging in secret sins and returning to the rot that erodes our soul, the right feeling of spiritual emptiness follows.
It is a painful feeling but also a feeling of spiritual life that distance from God brings us great sorrow. Surely a sign of our life to God is a feeling of distance from God.
God’s Purpose in Deserting
Spiritual desertion is meant to bear fruit just as winter is meant for trees to grow. Even this apparent darkness works for the good of those who love God (Romans 8:28). In God’s divine purpose He may hide His face in order to draw us to seek it. Feelings of spiritual distance should propel us to create more distance between our sin and not our Christ.
Thomas Watson wrote, “Faith as a star sometimes shines brightest in the dark night of desertion.” Like a file, God’s apparent distance is meant to scrape away our spiritual rust. “Missing God purges a Christian of weakness, laziness, and worldliness,” Joel Beeke writes.
The Lord desires for your roots to grow deep. Just as plants move in order to absorb the warmth of the sun, the Lord also hides His face in order that His saints would seek to find more of His grace. Our Lord has many medicines in His cabinet to cure spiritual lethargy, and though they may have a bitter taste they produce profoundly good results.
Only Jesus truly endured the darkness of God’s forsakenness — we only experience a shadow of it. We only feel forsaken because Christ alone was truly forsaken for us (Matthew 27:46).
If God has purposed to withdraw from us that we would draw near to Him, may it be well with our souls. God’s desire is to awaken fresh faith in the hearts of His people.
It is no true loss to feel spiritually alone if God has wielded this for us to seek His infinite worth.
