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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This describes so much how I’m feeling right now. I feel like the silence is deafening and I long to hear the whisper of the Spirit. I have no words of wisdom, I only wanted to say that your writing spoke right to my heart. Thank you!
Oh – I’m so glad this ministered to you. It came from a place of vulnerability and lostness and I am feeling that with you too. Thank you so much for taking the time to write.
I’ve been there many times … for me, I follow Jesus’ lead and go to a wilderness place – sometimes for a few hours, sometimes for days at a time. I walk, journal, meditate, sit still and listen – until eventually I’m in an uncluttered space and can hear again.
One concept that has helped me is that of ‘milk’ and ‘meat’…. but with a different spin on it … when we are young we are fed milk and regularly return to the teat in a dependant state. However in maturity we are fed meat so that we can walk on our own for much longer periods of time.
Thanks for this – especially the metaphor of being fed meat so that we can go longer – I like that a lot. Thanks so much for stopping by!
Loved your post on ‘Troubled marriage’, and although it is heartbreaking for you to feel that, I still wonder at how God works through you. So many will find it encouraging, when they have felt just as you have, and have found it difficult to express it. Thank you for your honesty. I was reading Jeremiah today, which although he was writing into a specific situation, I read this verse and thought of you, Jer 29:13 You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you, declares the Lord… Keep trusting and seeking, love and prayers.xx
Thank you so much Sara for your encouragement, and for that verse in Jeremiah – it’s a good one, and i had forgotten it. Much appreciated.