4 Things to Do When You Don’t Feel Close to God

Here are four things you can do when you feel far from God.

Dive Into His Word

There is nothing like getting into the Word of God to get the Word of God into you. There is real power in God’s Word (Romans 1:16, 1 Corinthians 1:18). God’s promise about His Word is that “shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty,” and “it shall accomplish that which I purpose and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it” (Isaiah 55:11). Don’t feel close to God? Get into His Word, for there you’ll find Him.

Cling to His Promises

When you feel you’re far from God, ask yourself this question: Who went where? It isn’t that God is far. We may feel that He is, but the truth is that human feelings are very unreliable and one of the shallowest of all human emotions. Our feelings can betray, but God’s promises never will. God promises “if we are faithless, he remains faithful—for he cannot deny himself” (2 Timothy 2:13). He has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you” (Hebrews 13:5b).

Feelings verses Truth

I touched on this earlier, but our feelings and God’s truth are not even close, as God’s Word is always true but our feelings can be true or false. If we say “I feel” or “it feels like,” we are neglecting what God’s Word says. God’s truth doesn’t depend on human feelings but on His unchangeable nature, as He Himself said, “I the Lord do not change” (Malachi 3:6a).

Confess your Sins

When we come clean with God, we are restored to fellowship with Him. Our relationship won’t be severed, but our fellowship can be harmed when we fail to keep short accounts with God. In other words, when you sin, confess it immediately, tell God that are sorry for it, and move on. To keep sin unconfessed is only going to make you feel further and further away from Him. Humble yourself, confess your sins and repent of them, and then trust God, Who promises, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9).

Conclusion

If you feel you’re not close to God, remember that God hasn’t changed and hasn’t moved. It is we who have moved away from God. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever (Hebrews 13:8). To me it’s comforting to know that God doesn’t change with the times. His mercies are new everyday (Lamentations 3:23), no matter what you feel like.