If you came here typing God feels distant or where is God or I can't feel him anymore, you are in good biblical company. The Psalms are full of complaints addressed to a God who seems silent. Psalm 13 begins, "How long wilt thou forget me, O Lord? for ever? how long wilt thou hide thy face from me?" — and ends in trust. That arc is one of scripture's most repeated patterns.
Christian tradition has a name for this season: the dark night of the soul, from John of the Cross. It describes a stretch when familiar spiritual practices feel dry and God's presence withdrawn — not as punishment, but as a season of deeper growth that requires us to stop relying on feelings. Isaiah 50:10 names exactly this: "Who is among you that feareth the Lord, that obeyeth the voice of his servant, that walketh in darkness, and hath no light? let him trust in the name of the Lord, and stay upon his God."
Habakkuk 3:17-19 is the ancient saint's resolution: even if the fields produce no fruit and the flocks are gone, "yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation." The point is not to manufacture feelings. The point is to stake your faith on what is true regardless of how it feels.
Practical: keep showing up. Read scripture even when it feels flat. Pray short, honest prayers even when you don't want to. Stay connected to the local church. Talk to a wise friend who has been through their own dry season. Often, the dryness is not God's absence — it's God's preparation. Hebrews 13:5 holds: "I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee." See also doubt, prayer, and perseverance.
Verses
Psalms 13:1-6
How long, O LORD? Will You forget me forever? How long will You hide Your face from me? How long must I wrestle in my soul, with sorrow in my heart each day? How long will my enemy dominate me? Consider me and respond, O LORD my God. Give light to my eyes, lest I sleep in death, lest my enemy say, “I have overcome him,” and my foes rejoice when I fall. But I have trusted in Your loving devotion; my heart will rejoice in Your salvation. I will sing to the LORD, for He has been good to me.
Psalms 42:1-11
As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul longs after You, O God. My soul thirsts for God, the living God. When shall I come and appear in God’s presence? My tears have been my food both day and night, while men ask me all day long, “Where is your God?” These things come to mind as I pour out my soul: how I walked with the multitude, leading the procession to the house of God with shouts of joy and praise. Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why the unease within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise Him for the salvation of His presence. O my God, my soul despairs within me. Therefore I remember You from the land of Jordan and the peaks of Hermon— even from Mount Mizar. Deep calls to deep in the roar of Your waterfalls; all Your breakers and waves have rolled over me. The LORD decrees His loving devotion by day, and at night His song is with me as a prayer to the God of my life. I say to God my Rock, “Why have You forgotten me? Why must I walk in sorrow because of the enemy’s oppression?” Like the crushing of my bones, my enemies taunt me, while they say to me all day long, “Where is your God?” Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why the unease within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise Him, my Savior and my God.
Habakkuk 3:17-19
Though the fig tree does not bud and no fruit is on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though the sheep are cut off from the fold and no cattle are in the stalls, yet I will exult in the LORD; I will rejoice in the God of my salvation! GOD the Lord is my strength; He makes my feet like those of a deer; He makes me walk upon the heights! For the choirmaster. With stringed instruments.
Lamentations 3:19-26
Remember my affliction and wandering, the wormwood and the gall. Surely my soul remembers and is humbled within me. Yet I call this to mind, and therefore I have hope: Because of the loving devotion of the LORD we are not consumed, for His mercies never fail. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness! “The LORD is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in Him.” The LORD is good to those who wait for Him, to the soul who seeks Him. It is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD.
Isaiah 50:10
Who among you fears the LORD and obeys the voice of His Servant? Who among you walks in darkness and has no light? Let him trust in the name of the LORD; let him lean on his God.
Hebrews 13:5
Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, for God has said: “Never will I leave you, never will I forsake you.”
Reflection
Can you say honestly to God how he feels to you right now — without dressing it up?
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