- Do you feel far from God?
- Feel like things are just more difficult than they should be?
- Feel like God isn’t listening to you?
The problem may not be God, it just might be you. I know that isn’t necessarily the answer you’re looking for. Right now its easy to find fault with others, be upset, be afraid and blame everyone and everything else for, well, everything. Sometimes-people do go through serious things and have real reasons to be upset. But sometimes the real root of our issues isn’t other people or circumstances the real root of our issues is our heart. If God feels far away it might not be His location thats the problem, but it might actually be your heart that is the issue. Your heart is in the wrong place. All day long our heats run after everything else and then we wonder why God seems so far away.
Psalm 63:1 “God you are my God earnestly I seek you, I thirst for you, my whole being longs for you”,
Translation: God, my heart is after You, it’s looking for you, it’s longing for you, it’s thinking of you. Does this mean pray more or read our bibles more? Yes and No. If our hearts are hanging out in the wrong places and then we try to do religious obligations, then our efforts are empty and fall flat. Performing our religious duties while our hearts are in so many other places, only leads to frustration. Then trouble comes and we start to feel overwhelmed and frustrated and angry. Where is God? I pray everyday, I read my bible, why are you so far God? Its a downward spiral, all this negativity only makes things worse and pushes your heart further away.
Set your heart above
Matthew 15:8 “These people honor me with their mouths, but their hearts are far”. Gods not upset at us, he’s not condemning us, He’s trying to help us out here. He doesn’t want your prayers to fall flat and doesn’t want you to be frustrated. He’s telling you you may be doing all the right things on the outside but on the inside your heart is in the wrong place. Your heart is entangled on things below when it should be focused above on Him.
The solution? Get your heart out of the wrong places and start to put it back where it belongs. Close the distance between your heart and God. Maybe start with just talking to God and being honest about your condition, start to direct your heart everyday closer to Gods. Remember how you use to feel and start to yearn for Him again.
Remember when you were first dating someone? All you could think about all day was them and you would count the seconds until you could see them again. You daydreamed about you two together and the life you could build with each other. You longed to be with them and just spend time doing whatever. This is all God wants, He wants your heart to belong to Him.
Get your heart close to Gods’s and soon you’ll start to realize everything doesn’t seem so bad, and God doesn’t seem so far away. Be real with yourself, what is your heart really longing for everyday, is it God or is it everything else. Our hearts are consumed all day long with stuff then we try to fit God into that, it should be the other way around. Get your heart back where it belongs and things will get much easier.
Scripture references: Psalm 63:1, Matthew 15:8