“ ‘Faith’ Him when you can’t Feel Him!” ~ Evangelist Lester Roloff
Have you ever spoken the words, “Dear Jesus, I thank you for…”, and you didn’t feel a thing? Have you ever intently read the Bible and thought, “It’s just not touching me today…” You sit in church and hear what you know was a great sermon, but you felt no movement of the Holy Spirit. The congregation stands up to sing… “Then sings my soul, my Savior God to Thee, How Great Thou art, How Great Thou art…”, but you stoop thinking, “Why don’t I feel anything?” If this is you, you are not alone! Everyone has these “dry spells.” If you haven’t, great! But, most likely…no, definitely, you will! If you are in this state, this post is especially for you. If you’re not at this point, take this as a future reference.
Why? Why do we feel this way sometimes? Why can’t we be excited all the time? Why do we feel like God is so far away sometimes? I believe it depends on the person, but most likely it is one of these scenarios:
1. God is testing you.
I have a sermon that I preach entitled, “The Sin of Sensitive Seeking.” I talk about the story where David is bringing the ark of the covenant back to Jerusalem, and in the process, his loyal servant Uzzah dies. Uzzah died trying to stop the ark from falling because the oxen stumbled. God was “displeased” with Uzzah and killed him. David got angry and dropped the ark off at Obed-edom’s house and left it there. He went back to Jerusalem angry at God. David, in that instance, was a “sensitive seeker.” Something happened that he didn’t like and he quit trying to fellowship with God! God was testing David to see what it would take to stop him from bringing the ark back to Jerusalem. It didn’t take much for David to quit.
What about you? Is you “not feeling” it enough to get you to quit praying? If so, you are being a sensitive seeker! Is the fact that you haven’t gotten much out of your Bible enough to stop you from reading it? God is testing you to see what if you’ll hold up when everything isn’t “peachy.” Let’s make sure we’re not sensitive seekers who don’t do as they’re commanded, just because we don’t feel it.
2. God is pruning you.
Maybe you are a productive Christian and all of a sudden, you feel “out of contact” with God. He seems a million miles away. Maybe God is pruning you in order to make you more successful for Him! It is easy to serve God and be productive when we “feel” it, but the man or woman who can continue in those things even when they don’t feel it will be used of God more. God cannot use a person who stops seeking Him because of their feelings. If I am the type of person who won’t read or pray when I don’t “feel” it, God can never use me in a great way. But, if I am doing as I’m supposed to, and God takes away that “feeling”…I have a choice to make. Do I continue to serve Him as I always have, or do I slack off? If I slack off, God knows He cannot use me for something greater than I’m already doing. But, if I persevere, I have been successfully pruned by God and will bring forth more fruit. Do you want to be GREATLY used of God? Then labor through the tough times! Don’t slack off! Why? Because those who do cannot be used to the same capacity of those who persevere.
John 15:2 - “Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.”
3. God is preparing you.
“Preparing me for what?”
2 Corinthians 1:3-5 - “Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort; Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God. For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ.”
God is testing you, pruning you, and preparing you. He is preparing you to help others who will one day be in the same scenario as you! If I am a drunkard, and God gives me freedom from drunkenness, He can then use me to help others in their quest for freedom! Just the same, if you are going through a “dry spell” spiritually, and you persevere, God can use you to assist others Christians who have become “numb” as you once were!!! Isn’t that encouraging! This goes for anything that you’re going through! Why has God allowed you to lose your feeling spiritually? To test you, prune you, and prepare you to help others with the same. BUT, you can never help someone with their problem, if you didn’t conquer yours!!! If you never learn how to continue of through this time, how could God use you to help others who had the same dilemma? If when the feeling slipped, you decided to slack off, how can God use you to tell others to keep going? In short, he can’t! So persevere Christian! If not for yourself, do it for those who come behind you!
What do we do about it? What do we do when the “unction” is gone? What do we do when the “want to” is gone? What do we do when we don’t “feel” it like we used to? Faith. Faith. Faith. Faith! Have faith! When you don’t FEEL God is there, that is the best time to show God your FAITH!!! Just because I don’t feel His presence, doesn’t mean He has gone away! God has not gone on vacation! God is not on the phone! God is not too busy to talk to you! He is the same He has ever been! “I am the Lord God, I change not.” He is in the same place He has always been, so show Him that even though you don’t feel Him there, you have faith that He is there!!! What is faith? Hebrews 11:1 - “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” Did you see it? The evidence of things not SEEN!!! Or HEARD!!! Or FELT!!!!! This verse is saying that it’s not about what we see or feel, it’s about what’s true!!! And it’s true that there is a God in Heaven Who is just as real today as He was 4000 years ago!!! He is the same God He was when you felt Him! It’s not about “Do I feel Him today?”, but “I have a GOD who loves me today!!!” That is the definition of faith!
We all struggle with this sometimes. Maybe God is testing us, pruning us, or preparing us. Either way, He’s still there! Let’s not be “sensitive seekers!" Instead, let’s gain that “bulldog” mentality that says, “God, whether I “feel” it or not, by your grace, I will serve you with my life!” Let’s just have faith.
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