The Distance from God, Dr. James Emery White

John Crowe Ransom once observed how winter could be a season of the heart as much as a season of the year. Author and historian Martin Marty agreed. During and after the death of his wife, Elsa, after a long illness, he experienced a “cry of absence.” The Divine was distant, the sense of the sacred was distant. An emptiness invaded his soul, for God felt withdrawn and distant. The intense heat of the spirituality summer was lost during the long nights of the winter wasteland.

We have all experienced the winter of the soul – the felt distance from God. It doesn’t matter who you are or where you stand in spiritual development.

Consider a young woman, trying to follow God in obedience, who walked the streets of the town she had just served. She felt rejected by God, powerless and tempted to turn her back on his call. Even though she longed for God and desired to be completely used by Him, she felt incapable of prayer – abandoned by God when she needed it most. “They say people in hell suffer eternal pain because of the loss of God,” she wrote. “In my soul I just feel the terrible pain of loss, of God not wanting me, of God not being God, of God not really existing. »

The young woman was Mother Teresa.

THE Bible assures us, however, that God is near.

But you, O God, see trouble and sorrow,
you think you’ll take it in hand….
O LORD, you hear the desire of the afflicted;
you encourage them and you listen to their cry.
(Psalm 10:14, 17)

These verses give weight to the great theological doctrine of the immanence of God, his presence and his activity within creation and history.

So why do we often feel such distance?

Any interpersonal relationship is very complex. The dynamics of intimacy are multifaceted and often exist far below our conscious awareness. The distance felt by God must be engaged in light of his immanence (he is indeed present) and his personal and relational nature. We can be physically present with someone and emotionally distant at the same time. God interacts with us in the context of an interpersonal relationship and longs to shape who we are. God is always there, and yet the same God comes and goes in relation to the continuing development of our soul. God may seem distant, but always for a reason.

Try this seemingly trivial but potentially enlightening exercise: stop reading right now and look for two things that contain the color green. Maybe the clothes someone near you is wearing, the paint on the ceiling, something on your desk, the carpet or tiles on the floor are both green things. What happened?

You changed the way you looked at what was around you.

For lack of a better term, you have created a “green mindset.” And when you created that green mindset, you started seeing green in places where you probably hadn’t noticed the color before. The reason is simple: we tend to see what we sensitize ourselves to see.

There are countless ways in which God can seem distant, and sometimes he East far. We have withdrawn from our intimacy with Him, or our sin has driven a wedge between us. Sometimes He withdrew Himself as a gift – for our instruction or protection. But often we are not aware of it. It is there, but our spiritual or emotional life experiences a slowing cycle and we do not to feel Him by our side, so we go with our feelings. Or we try to save ourselves and don’t open up to Him, even if He is eager to lend a helping hand. Or we think we face the world alone, without knowing that the hills are full of angels.

We must open our eyes, for “the Lord is surely in that place” (Genesis 28:16).

James Emery White

Sources

James Emery White, The struggle with God: loving the God we do not understand. Do you want to read more? Get the Church and Culture eBook HERE.

Martin Marty, A cry of absence.

Laurinda Keys, “The Spiritual Struggles of Mother Teresa” Charlotte ObserverSeptember 15, 2001, p. 19A.

Roger von Oech, A kick in the seat of the pants.

About the Author

James Emery White is the founding and senior pastor of Mecklenburg Community Church in Charlotte, North Carolina, and an adjunct professor of theology and culture at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, where he also served as its fourth president. His latest book, Meeting Generation Z: Understanding and Reaching the New Post-Christian WorldEast available on Amazon. To benefit from a free subscription to the Church & Culture blog, visit the website ChurchAndCulture.org, where you can view past blogs in our archives and read the latest church and cultural news from around the world. Follow Dr. White on Twitter, Facebook And Instagram.