What do you do when you can’t hear God’s voice?
I write this from a place of frustration.
Someone asked me the other day how my relationship with God was going.
I said it felt like I was in a troubled marriage – I keep turning up for the dates, but the mealtimes are strained and awkward and neither party seems to have anything to say to one another. I’m reading the Bible, and I know it, I know it all – but it still feels like porridge, stodgy and wearisome and cold.
And the voice of God – I’m not hearing it! The voice of God that breaks the cedars of Lebanon, that has the sound of rushing waters, that makes wars cease – where is this voice? What makes Him so hard to hear?
I read my boy the psalms – ‘I am like a deer who wants water – I’m thirsty for you, God!’ and I know that psalm is the prayer of my heart.
So I stand here today and offer him my voice. I call to Him. I shout. I hunger and thirst for His words to me.
And somewhere in the middle of the calling and shouting I feel the whisper of God.
Over to you:
- What helps you when God feels distant?
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oh, I have been there…and I hold on to His promises to always be with me (Heb. 13:5)…and this encouraged me from Oswald Chambers..my paraphrase…God trusting us with His silence…it is the advanced course in our spiritual journey…so hang on because He has you (Deut. 31:8)…blessings, Tanya 🙂
God trusting us with His silence – thank you so much for this – it is something that has been at the back of my mind as a wondering for the past few days and weeks. I wonder whether this is what God is doing with me at the moment. That helps – thank you.
I hear you…sometimes it seems like He’s taken off…left me alone…but He never does. He’s always there even when I don’t hear or feel Him. And He’s with you too….He promised to never leave us and He won’t. Stay strong okay…
Thank you! 🙂
Your honesty is probably your greatest gift right now…I do understand this place and what you’ve spoken of: the dryness and weariness in your soul….I understand. I will pray that your soul will truly thirst and that God’s spirit will be abundant and real in response to your thirst. Bless you sister!
Lorretta at Dancing on the Dash
Thank you so much for your prayers, Loretta – I really appreciate it!
I can also relate to this. And I also relate to feeling a connection with God while ‘berating’ Him – such a good word! Lol… As for advice, don’t really have any. Sometimes doing the things that used to bring communion helps, and sometimes you need to find new things. Just like in any relationship! Just one thought, I have noticed that I experience scripture very differently when I read it out loud, compared to reading it silently. For some reason hearing the words at the same time as seeing them makes me notice things that I’ve never seen before.
I’m glad I’m not the only one who feels a connection with God whilst berating Him! I think that speaks of the grace of God, that He can meet us, at times, in our frustration. I like your thought about reading scripture out loud. I think I’m going to have to try different ways of walking and connecting with God, as so many of my old easy ways are now closed to me. This is one to try – thank you.
Wow! Thank you for posting this! I don’t think it’s easy for us to admit when we’re frustrated with God. I went through this very thing a few months ago. I woke up everyday for a while feeling empty and emotionally spent while I waited to hear something from God. When I told a friend how I was feeling, I even compared it to how I feel after an argument with my husband. So your analogy of a troubled marriage really hit home for me! And you’re so right! Thanks for being so real!
Hey there – so great to hear that I’m not the only one! I don’t think it’s something we talk about very much. I hesitated to make the analogy, as I didn’t want it to sound like I was being flippant, somehow – but that is just how it *feels* and I think it’s freeing to be honest about it so we can move beyond this. Thanks so much for your comment. 🙂
Tanya, I would love to have deep words of wisdom for a post like this, but I certainly don’t. I think your analogy is perfect. Many of the things listed above have helped me at times, but none of them are foolproof. Such a big part of me longs for formulas for my relationship with God. Simple fixes for the complicated tangle that is a relationship. And, of course, it is the fact that formulas don’t work that makes my relationship with my husband so deep and rich. If he were more robotic our marriage would be less meaningful. Obviously the same applies to God. But the sludging through the communication between two people can sure seem long and one-sided. With people and God. And there is a difference between knowing that God is good and is there and feeling that same thing. Just like there’s a difference between knowing you are married and feeling like you are married. So this is a fantastic analogy. 🙂
I am typing this, wishing right now that you lived down the road from me and you could come round and we could have hot chocolate together. Thank you for GETTING me, and for putting it in such great words yourself. I really appreciate it, friend. 🙂
Tanya, I was JUST telling my husband about this job and saying how happy I was I’d found your blog and that it was so nice to read someone who said what I thought – even when I hadn’t thought through that particular thing yet. I SO wish we lived down the road from each other. We’d do hot chocolate all the time.
um, my last reply (which I hope didn’t get deleted cause I don’t see it right now) was supposed to say “telling my husband about this POST…”
(Arg! All my comments this week are just disappearing into the cybervoid. So here’s about what I wrote in reply a couple days ago…)
I would LOVE to live down the street. We’d do hot chocolate all the time. I was just telling my husband about this post and telling how happy I was I’d found your blog and a couple like it because you guys felt like such friends. People that I just get. People that in helps my day to read because I feel that it’s less likely that I’m some sort of defective half-heretic and more likely that I’m just dealing with the fact that my faith doesn’t look the way I though it would by the time I reached mid-thirties and had experienced some hard things.
The next thing the internet needs to invent is teleportation so we can really meet up and chat.
Oh me too! I’m such a defective half-heretic! It means a lot to me to connect with people like you. Thank you 🙂
Hey… been there.
It gets better… promise.
You’re being prepared for great things sister.
Hey you -thanks! and i’ve just hopped over to your blog and read your life story – and it’s quite a story…
Thanks for sharing Tanya, I’ve been there and sometimes it’s really tough, but God loves you and will never leave you. His promises are true and however it feels like right now, He really does want the best for you.
Thanks, Mandy