When God Feels Distant

This devotion is based on Psalm 13:

How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever?
    How long will you hide your face from me?
How long must I take counsel in my soul
    and have sorrow in my heart all the day?
How long shall my enemy be exalted over me?
Consider and answer me, O Lord my God;
    light up my eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death,
lest my enemy say, “I have prevailed over him,”
    lest my foes rejoice because I am shaken.
But I have trusted in your steadfast love;
    my heart shall rejoice in your salvation.
I will sing to the Lord,
    because he has dealt bountifully with me.

The feeling that God is a million miles away and prayers cast to Heaven seem to bounce off the ceiling is hard to explain. However, it has been documented in Scripture and in countless testimonies.

We read the promises in the Bible, we know in our minds that God never leaves us, but our everyday feelings sometimes tell a different story.

King David understood this tension. In Psalm 13, he skips the polite formalities and gets right to the point:

Four times in the first two verses, David asks, “How long?” He was exhausted, hurting, and felt utterly overlooked by God. We do not know the specific situation David was in when he wrote this. We can tell from the context that David had been sitting in his trouble and feeling alienated from God for some time.

The encouraging truth about Scripture is that it never asks us to fake our way through hard seasons. Psalm 13 gives us a simple, three-step pattern for walking through silence:

Pour Out the Pain David starts by being completely honest about his struggle. He does not bottle up his grief or pretend everything is fine. He takes his confusion straight to the Lord. Real biblical lament starts by telling God exactly where it hurts.

Ask for Help David does not stay stuck in his complaint. In verses 3 and 4, he asks God to look on him, answer him, and restore his strength. When life feels heavy, bringing specific requests to God keeps our hearts engaged with Him instead of pulling away.

Choose to Trust In the final two verses, something remarkable happens. David’s external problems have not changed yet, but his focus does: “But I have trusted in your steadfast love; my heart shall rejoice in your salvation. I will sing to the LORD, because he has dealt bountifully with me” (Psalm 13:5-6, ESV).

When God feels distant, that silence often serves a deeper purpose. It is easy to sing of God’s goodness when everything is going our way. It is even easy to sing of God’s goodness when things are going badly, but we feel His comforting presence. But when nothing is going the way we think it should and we feel utterly abandoned, that is when we need to sing the most. Our faith grows when we hold fast while there is no evidence we should continue.

Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. Hebrews 11:1

David looked back at how good God had been in the past, and that gave him the strength to sing in the present.

There is another vital lesson in this psalm: there is no recorded timeline for when David felt God close again. There is no verse 7 where God answers David. This devotion I am writing does not give you a solution. The prayer you find below does not change your circumstances or guarantee that you will feel God when you are done praying it. This devotion is to remind you to sing and worship God, remember His character and what He has done for you when it seems to make no sense or difference to continue.

Prayer for when God feels distant:

Father God, things look bad for me right now and it seems as if my prayers are landing in your voicemail, even though I know it is not true.

I ask for this feeling to pass quickly, and that I may feel you close again.

But You, my God, will always do what needs to be done. You will do what is best. I cannot question your abiding love for me, no matter my circumstances. I submit to Your will; may it be done here on earth as it is in Heaven.