Understanding God When You Are Feeling Down

One of the most prevalent issues facing the Church is the seeming insistence on forming God into what we want Him to be instead of how He has declared Himself to be. Every person on earth has days when they are feeling down. Perhaps we feel our shortcomings from God’s glory especially strong that day, week, or month. Perhaps situations out of our control have us in the pits. Whatever the reason may be, we have all been there and the only way out is to turn to God for guidance. But how should we think of God when we seek His help? January 18, 2023, Janet Parshall (Moody Radio) interviewed Michael L. Brown about his book Has God Failed You¹. Much of what he suggested made sense, but there was one statement he made while answering callers questions, that did not – and even seemed to be contrary to what he had been saying previously. The advice Brown gave at this point was to “be honest with God where you are.” He gave the example of someone he knew who did not feel sincere in saying that God was good because of what they were going through and Michael’s answer was “don’t, just say God I know you are there, but I don’t know who you are [right now].” While this is, certainly, a thought process that can go through one’s head when struggling, it strikes me as very strange advice. In essence, this is advising people to not acknowledge God’s true nature if they aren’t “feeling it”. I, for one, oppose this direction. What, then, should be our response? I will first return his real-life example with one of my own, and then examine two instances from the Bible, one in the Old Testament, and the other in the New Testament.

Layered Desires

There is one sermon preached at my church many years ago that has remained in my memory and consistently comes to mind. In our fallen state, what we desire is not always virtuous. I may even go so far as to say that these desires are all too often unvirtuous. The lesson went something like so: Both in our desire to sin, and when we find ourselves in a rut where we have no interest in fleeing from that sin, forgiveness and repentance is the farthest thing from our minds. Nevertheless, we are called to repent and have no excuse to do otherwise. Whether we want to or not, that is our obligation. We are called to pray for forgiveness and the strength to cast off the besetting sin. If a lack of remorse keeps you from doing so, pray for remorse. If you don’t want to feel remorse, pray for the desire to feel remorse. If need be, pray for the desire to have the desire to feel remorse. If you are so lost in your sin that you want to remain in it with every fiber of your being… you guessed it. Pray for the desire to have the desire to feel remorse. In the words of the pastor, “I can go all day!” The moral is simple. When you are down and you feel like God has abandoned you, praise Him. Glorify His name. Call out God is good!

Glorious Exile

It is difficult to find historical records that describe a moment bleaker than when David is forced to flee his palace because his own son was trying to kill him. Absalom’s treacherous plot starts in 2 Samuel 15 and David leaves the city in verse 13. The first mention of God by David in this passage is in verse 25, where he sends Zadok back to Jerusalem with the ark saying “If I find favor in the eyes of the LORD, He will bring me back…” There is no doubt about God’s righteousness in David’s mind. His concern is not the goodness of God, but rather if he has lost favor. Shortly afterward, he prays for God to confuse Absalom’s advisors with foolishness. Verse 32, he worships the LORD. Never does David question Divine motive.

Faith in Loss

This next passage speaks for itself. It comes from John 11:17-27. Following the death of Lazarus, Jesus meets with the dead man’s sister and my focus on their interaction begins in verse 21. She greets Jesus with “LORD if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you.” This is an expression of both mourning and acknowledging Christ’s power and greatness. When told that he will rise again, her answer is that she knows he will rise on the last day. There is, at this point, no promise of an immediate earthly resurrection. Even so, she says “Yes LORD, I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who is coming into this world.” In spite of her loss, and without any anticipation of respite from her grief in this life, she acknowledges Jesus for who He is and gives him the honor and worship due Him.

Conclusion

We are flawed, fallen, sinful creatures. Our emotions take us astray and lead us into sin every chance we get. To be honest with our feelings, then, is to trust a liar. God IS Good, whether we think it, feel it, believe it or not, it is the undeniable truth. To avoid saying that He is, even in our darkest times, is not honesty. We are not honest with ourselves, and worse still, we are not honest with God. It is, in fact, a lie.