Our God is not withholding Himself from us. Rather, He desires intimacy with us even more than we do. Romans 8:32 says, “He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?”
So, why, then, does His presence often seem illusive? Yes, His Spirit is like the wind (John 3:8), and we are so dull to His ways that we often do not understand why He feels near one minute and distant the next.
In the Song of Solomon, we see our Beloved coming in and enjoying deep intimacy with His bride. We also see Him withdrawing Himself, causing her to leave the comfort of her home to search for Him in the streets. After knowing His love, her hunger was insatiable, unsatisfied with anything less.
This God who loves us more than we can imagine often withdraws Himself to rouse us from spiritual laziness, causing us to pursue Him. He sometimes withdraws a tangible sense of His presence to drive us beyond selfish love and an addiction to the ecstasy of His presence and into selfless love… where we pursue Him only for Him, not asking for anything in return, not even His precious presence. First He awakens our love and then He causes us to go deeper, beyond the things that would eventually choke out that love.
How do we respond when God feels distant? The self-indulgent flesh (immature, carnal believers) assume that anything uncomfortable is from the enemy. The self-righteous flesh (religious believers) assume that everything is of God and submit to all things, including demons. The flesh (whether self-indulgent or self-righteous) will always err according to what is most comfortable or familiar. James 1:13-17 says that evil does not come from the hand of God, though all things filter through His hand and work together for our good (Romans 8:28). James 4:7 instructs us to submit to God and to resist the devil, but sometimes we do not know which is which. Thankfully, we have the indwelling Spirit of Truth, who has been sent by the Father to every believer to guide us into all truth. So, the key is simply to posture our hearts in submission to God, in resistance to what is not of Him and in utter dependence upon the Spirit of Truth to show us the difference.
So, when God feels distant, we must always lean on the Holy Spirit, asking Him to reveal if we have grieved or quenched Him in some way. Remember that Samson was so disconnected from the Lord that he did not even know when the Spirit of God had departed from him. But we must always ask in faith, trusting the goodness of our Heavenly Father to pour out the wisdom we seek (James 1:2-8). It is His delight to give us the kingdom. And it is the Holy Spirit’s delight to reveal to us the truth. So, once we ask the question, we must wait and rest, never leaving that place of faith and peace. We must not give in to fear, works or striving. We must not start to seek His presence from without rather than from within.
If the Holy Spirit reveals something that needs to be adjusted, He will, by His very nature, pour out abundant grace to obey. And His presence will return like a flood. But if He does not reveal anything, simply realize that you are being strengthened in your pursuit of Him. You are being grown to maturity and greater fruitfulness, as He enlarges your capacity to receive more of Him. And you are being given a priceless opportunity to trade, to worship selflessly, receiving nothing in return – not even the ecstasy of His presence. And, because He is the prize, the pursuit will always be worth the reward!