God So Far Away.

There are times when Christians feel that the Lord is far away from them, times when He seems so distant, times when your prayers do not seem to get beyond the ceiling.  You’ve had that experience, as we have.  Maybe you’re having it at the present time.

I came across this very challenging statement from Ravi Zacharias: "I think the reason we sometimes have the false sense that God is so far away is because that is where we have put him. We have kept him at a distance, and then when we are in need and call on him in prayer, we wonder where he is. He is exactly where we left him.”

If you cannot find God, where did you last leave Him?  When you were last with Him, where did you put Him?  Don’t take these too seriously, but they do have a point, do they not?  If God seems far away from us, it’s not His fault.  Like the fallen axe head in 2 Kgs.6:1-7, to find the Lord you have to return to where you ‘lost’ Him, and you’ll probably find that He’s there waiting for you. 

There's another way of looking at this situation. If God seems far away from you, who moved? You or God? Has God changed His commitment to you? Or have you changed your commitment to Him? These are very challenging questions, are they not?

I think we need to pause and stay with this point for a while.  We tend to read over points like this without stopping and meditating on what they imply for us as Christians.  Stay with this for a moment, and examine your own heart in the light of this truth.  Allow the truth to impact your own soul, and stay before it until it does.  This is called ‘doing business with the Lord.’