Looking back to see...

Ever find yourself in a place where you are painfully aware of everything going on around you, in you and to you but feel like you are in a kinda straight-jacket, stopping you from reacting or even acknowledging those things?

Could it be that the very reason you feel so distant from God is God?

Heresy! Maybe but stay with me. Someone I respect greatly recently told me that God takes everything we tell Him, every promise we make to Him, every cry of our hearts, VERY seriously and will actually hold us to them!

Who would've expected that from a lawful being?

Problems only start when we then try to go against these promises. When you say "take my life and use me, Lord" He sets us on a path towards that goal. If we get a ways down that path and suddenly decide that we don't really want to keep going in that particular direction, or if we decide that a particular test is too hard and shy away then we are, by our own doing, out of God's will and direction for our lives!

This being the case, can we then expect God to change His mind to suit our human wills? I'd hope not. A God that bends to our whims is not a God worth the effort really, is He?

So, if God feels distant, maybe it's not that He's forsaken you but, maybe, that you've just expected Him to stay in front of you while you turn your back on Him.