When God Feels Far Away
There are certain seasons of our lives when it can feel like God is not listening. We can picture this barrier, a fortress built by the sorrows of life or our own doubting hearts — a wall off which our prayers seem to bounce. God can feel terribly far away. When we are deep in grief, in pain, in trials, or in the chains of sin, it’s easy to believe the lie: God will not come here.
These are the times when we need to grasp onto what we know is true. Our God is a god of hope and rescuing grace! His story proves these truths. Jesus set aside heavenly splendor to enter an aching world. While on earth, He shared meals with sinners, as we see in Mark 2:13-17. He welcomed and healed lepers like the story found in Matthew 8:1-3. And then He went, beaten, bruised, and bloodied, to Calvary carrying our cross. Jesus is no stranger to hard places. As we read in Psalm 139:7-12, there is no distance He will not go to in order to redeem us:
“Where can I go from Your Spirit?
Or where can I flee from Your presence?
If I ascend to heaven, You are there;
If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, You are there.
If I take the wings of the dawn,
If I dwell in the remotest part of the sea,
Even there Your hand will lead me,
And Your right hand will lay hold of me.
If I say, ‘Surely the darkness will overwhelm me,
And the light around me will be night,’
Even the darkness is not dark to You,
And the night is as bright as the day.
Darkness and light are alike to You.”
Whether we are prone to wander, we’ve been deceived into following a path other than His, or the circumstances of life have driven us to run far in the opposite direction of God’s grace, He makes it clear in His Word that He would move heaven and earth to get us back. In fact, He sent heaven down to earth to rescue us! Moment by moment, with each rising of the sun, He is relentlessly, graciously pursuing us. There is no place He will not go to win us back, He proved it on the cross.
“Precious lamb came to redeem us
Heaven’s dawn broke through the night
Just to be with us
You came to earth, yielding Your life
Carried the weight of our sin and strife
Just to be with us
Emmanuel, Emmanuel
God is here with us
Emmanuel, Emmanuel
God is here with us, Emmanuel
Light has come, healing the broken
You have come with love reaching out just to be with us
The evidence of who You are
Is piercing through the hardest hearts
Just to be with us
Now the atmosphere lives and breathes with Your glory
The presence of a Holy God is here
All creation lives and moves in Your presence
The beauty of Your majesty revealed to us
Lord You’re here, here with us
Jesus, Jesus
You are here with us
Jesus, Jesus
You are here with us
Emmanuel”
Listen to “Emmanuel” from “Hidden In My Heart, Volume III.”
