In all of our lives, there are grueling times when we feel like there is great distance between us and God. We depressingly ask ourselves, “Where is He?”. We feel like He is not concerned about anything that takes place in our day to day lives. We sometimes feel as if He is angry with us and has turned His face from us because of something that we have done.
Every genuine believer today is covered by the blood of Jesus Christ under the New Covenant. This means that all of those “feelings” are not biblical. Why not? Because two-thousand years ago the greatest separation of all time occurred, between God the Father and God the Son, in order that we never have to be separated from Him again.
Jesus said that He and the Father are one, and just as they are one, we are also one with Jesus (John 17:20-23). When we are born again, our spirits are simultaneously intertwined with Him as He makes His home inside of us (Ephesians 1:13, John 14:23). Can we explain how this happens or what it looks like? No, we cannot. But we can be assured that it is true, because He has declared through the mouth of Jesus Christ.
In those times that we feel like He is not close, we can rest in the fact that the Word of God is stronger than what our temporary feelings may be. Our sin is what had previously separated us from the presence of God, but when we latched onto Christ and put the fate of our lives in His hands, that sin was wiped out in full. When we trust in His finished work, we know that our sin has been imputed to Jesus, and Jesus endured the punishment for us. And in turn, the righteousness of Jesus is imputed to us. I know that it is impossible to picture or even understand that exchange with our natural minds, but it is true. Therefore, if our sin has truly been cast onto Jesus Christ (and it has), we can be fully assured that the Lord has no anger left for us. He has no wrath left for us. Nothing can separate His presence from us. Every child of God can know beyond the shadow of a doubt that because God forsook Jesus on that Cross (Matthew 27:46), He will NEVER turn His face from us again.
“For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord”- Romans 8:38-39.
The barricade that our rebellious hearts had set between us and God has been broken down and destroyed forever by the suffering, death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus. God is now never distant, but rather closer than you can comprehend. He is intimately involved in your life, second by second; in the midst of every thought you have and every decision you make. If we would only take our eyes off the world and sit still and listen, we would take notice of His constant communication to us through His indwelling Spirit.
He is in complete control of every action and situation that takes place, and He is using all of those things for our benefit. Yes, every situation. Even if we can’t see how any possible good could come from our present circumstances, we can rest in the fact that God is not a liar. He has promised that He works all things for our good and He is fervently working to make all of His children like Jesus (Romans 8:28). We will suffer and endure trials, yet our joy does not have to be defeated by those things. Our joy is not supposed to be found in anything other than His abounding love that resides in the deepest parts of our being. That means that external circumstances do not have to dictate our levels of peace and joy. His Presence will give us the power to persevere through life in this broken world and give us the privilege of bringing Him glory along the entire journey.
We cannot see Jesus now, but one day our faith will become sight. Until that day, rest assured that He is paying attention to you as if you are the only person He ever created. Renew your mind in the Word and set it upon the things of the Spirit; not the flesh. And if our thoughts and feelings don’t line up with what He says about Himself and the promises He’s made, then our thoughts and feelings are wrong. Trust Him always, even above your own heart.
“For whenever our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and he knows everything”- 1 John 3:20.
Matt Moore
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