What To Do When You Don’t Feel God

Have you ever experienced one of those times with God when you feel like you’re in a ‘dry’ spell? One of those times when no matter how much you pray, worship and read your bible you are still left not being able to ‘feel’ God’s presence?

Or maybe you are feeling so distant from God that you don’t even want to read your bible or pray – well you’re in the right place!

Read on to hear my tips of what you should do when you’re in a season of not being able to feel God!

First things first: YOU ARE NOT ALONE!

Not only will most Christians around you probably experience this at some point or another, but so many people from the bible experienced this as well! If you read Psalm 13, you can see how David also had times when he could not feel God –

“O Lord, how long will you forget me? Forever? How long will you look the other way?” – Psalm 13:1

Later on in that Psalm, David begs God to “Turn and answer me” (vs 3) and I have definitely had times where I can relate to that feeling.

So what can we do when we find ourselves in this situation? Well, it is important to remember that our feelings do not determine reality. Even if we truly feel like God is not speaking to us or we are finding it difficult to connect with Him, He has not abandoned you. In Romans we are told that;

“I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries for tomorrow – not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love”. – Romans 8:38

This truth must be our starting point; no matter how we are feeling we must hold on to the fact that God loves us, He fights for us and He wants the best for us.

There are many reasons why we might feel ‘closed-off’ from God’s presence. We might have worries, we might be angry at God, we might have pulled away from desiring to spend time with Him or we might be doing something we know God wouldn’t want us to be doing.

In all of these situations my advice is this; if you do not feel like praying or worshipping or reading the bible – do it anyway. God will meet you there. Confide how you’re feeling in a trusted friend or mentor. Keep going to Church and being involved in community. Be honest about how you’re feeling.

Personally for me, one of the things that helped me the most with this situation, was this series on the book Song of Songs that I went through in a home group. It highlighted how, just like in the Song of Songs story, God can sometimes withdraw His presence from us, so that we seek Him more and go to a deeper place of intimacy with Him.

“So I said to myself, ‘I will get up and roam the city, searching in all its streets and squares. I will search for the one I love’. So I searched everywhere but did not find him. The watchmen stopped me as they made their rounds and I asked ‘Have you seen the one I love?’ Then scarcely had I left them when I found my love! I caught him and held Him tightly…” – Song of Songs 3:2-4

God says when you seek Him, you will find him. So if you’re going through a season of not being able to feel God, keep pursuing Him. He loves you so much, and the season will pass.