Why Does God Feel Absent?

Because feeling has never been a reliable gauge of God’s presence—and Scripture takes that experience so seriously that it gives it a place within the life of faith rather than treating it as a failure of faith.

Start with the most staggering fact. On the cross, the Son of God Himself cried, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46). If the sinless Christ endured the felt absence of the Father, then a sense of God’s distance is not automatic proof that something has gone wrong with your faith. The Psalms are full of it—“How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever?” (Psalm 13:1)—and these are not the prayers of unbelievers but of saints. Isaiah can even confess, “Truly, you are a God who hides himself” (Isaiah 45:15). The experience is real, and the Bible does not scold you for it.

Lutherans have a name for this trial—Anfechtung, the assault of doubt and abandonment—and Luther knew it intimately. His counsel was never to dig deeper into your feelings to manufacture a sense of God’s nearness, which only sinks you further. It was to turn outward, to the places God has actually promised to be found. God has not made your emotions the address where He can be reached. He has bound Himself to His Word, to your Baptism, to the Supper, to the absolution spoken over you. He is present there whether you feel a thing or not, because His promise does not rise and fall with your mood.

So when God feels absent, the question to ask is not “how do I feel?” but “what has He said?” Return to the promise you can point to rather than the feeling you cannot summon. I am baptized. This is my body, given for you. Your sins are forgiven. Christ said “I am with you always” (Matthew 28:20)—and He did not add “whenever you happen to feel it.” Faith walks by that word, especially in the dark. And the walking is faith; the feeling is not.