Have You Been Asking God to Speak While Moving Away From Him?
There are seasons when we pray the same prayer again and again:
God, please tell me what to do.
We need direction. We need clarity. We need to know whether to stay or leave, begin or wait, speak or remain silent. We want God to show us what comes next.
And when nothing seems to happen, the question begins:
Why isn’t God answering my prayers?
But perhaps there is another question worth asking.
Have I been asking God to speak while slowly moving away from Him?
Not because God is standing at a distance punishing us with silence. Not because every season in which God seems quiet means we have done something wrong. Scripture gives us plenty of examples of faithful people who waited for God and experienced periods when His answer did not come immediately.
This is about something different.
This is about wanting God’s direction while neglecting God’s presence.
Wanting His answer without wanting intimacy.
Wanting Him to tell us what to do next so we can take the information and continue on our way.
Sometimes we aren’t really asking God, “Can I walk with You?”
We are asking, “Can You tell me which way to go?”
There is a difference.
We Can Want God’s Voice Without Wanting God’s Presence
Think about how easily this can happen.
Something goes wrong, and suddenly we pray.
A decision has to be made, and we open our Bible.
A relationship becomes uncertain, and we begin asking God for confirmation.
Finances become tight, and our prayer life becomes much more active.
We need an answer, so we start seeking.
But once the crisis passes, the urgency disappears.
Prayer becomes occasional again.
The Bible stays closed longer.
The conversations become shorter.
Our attention moves elsewhere.
And then another problem comes.
“God, what should I do?”
There is nothing wrong with running to God when we need help. Scripture repeatedly tells us to bring our needs to Him.
But perhaps we should occasionally ask ourselves:
Would I still be seeking Him this intensely if I didn’t need an answer?
That question gets underneath our prayers.
Because sometimes what we call seeking God is actually seeking information from God.
We want direction.
We want confirmation.
We want an answer.
But God has invited us into something much deeper than consultation.
He has invited us to abide.
Jesus Didn’t Say, “Visit Me When You Need Something”
Jesus gave His disciples a picture of relationship in John 15.
“Abide in me, and I in you.”— John 15:4 KJV
Abide.
Remain.
Stay.
Continue.
Make your dwelling there.
Jesus wasn’t describing an occasional encounter. He wasn’t describing a relationship in which we appear when something needs fixing and disappear once we have received direction.
He described a branch connected to a vine.
And then He said:
“As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.”— John 15:4 KJV
A branch doesn’t visit the vine.
A branch lives connected to the vine.
That changes the way we think about prayer.
Prayer isn’t merely the emergency line we call when we don’t know what to do.
Prayer is part of a life lived with God.
Maybe God Hasn’t Moved
Sometimes when God feels distant, our immediate conclusion is:
Where did God go?
But perhaps another question is worth considering:
Who moved?
Again, I don’t mean this as condemnation. There are seasons when God feels quiet even when we are faithfully seeking Him. Feelings are not reliable measurements of God’s presence.
But there are also times when, if we are willing to be truthful, we know something has changed.
We stopped spending time with Him.
We became distracted.
Our schedule became crowded.
Something else captured our attention.
We started compromising something we once knew wasn’t good for us.
We became disappointed because God didn’t do what we expected.
We became hurt.
We became angry.
Maybe we didn’t consciously decide to walk away.
We just stopped coming close.
A day became several days.
Several days became weeks.
And eventually we realized that most of our conversations with God had become requests.
James gives us a remarkably simple invitation:
“Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you.”— James 4:8 KJV
Notice what James doesn’t say.
Figure everything out first.
Fix yourself first.
Become spiritually impressive first.
Have all your questions answered first.
He says:
Draw near.
What If the Answer Isn’t the First Thing You Need?
We often think we need clarity before we can move forward.
But sometimes God may be drawing our attention away from the decision and back toward the relationship.
We are saying:
“Tell me what to do.”
And perhaps the invitation is:
“Come closer.”
We say:
“Which door should I choose?”
Come closer.
“Should I stay or leave?”
Come closer.
“When is this going to change?”
Come closer.
“Why haven’t You fixed this?”
Come closer.
Not because the question doesn’t matter.
Not because God doesn’t care about the decision.
But because knowing what to do is never a substitute for knowing the One who leads us.
Sometimes we become so focused on getting God’s instructions that we forget God Himself is the destination.
Are You Seeking His Voice—or an Answer?
This may be one of the harder questions in this entire series:
Am I seeking God’s voice, or am I seeking an answer so I can get back to living without Him?
Because those can look remarkably similar at first.
Both people pray.
Both open Scripture.
Both ask for direction.
Both may fast.
Both may seek counsel.
But the heart can be very different.
One says:
“God, give me the information I need.”
The other says:
“God, I want to walk with You through this.”
One is primarily interested in the answer.
The other is interested in the One answering.
And sometimes we may not realize which one we have been doing until the answer doesn’t come.
Because when the answer is delayed, we discover whether we will continue seeking God when He hasn’t yet given us what we came for.
We Can Become So Focused on Hearing God That We Stop Listening to What He Has Already Said
There is another possibility we should consider.
Sometimes we say God isn’t speaking when what we actually mean is:
God isn’t saying anything new.
We want a fresh word.
A sign.
Confirmation.
A feeling.
A door.
Something unmistakable.
But God has already spoken through Scripture.
Maybe we’re asking whether we should forgive while Scripture has already told us to forgive.
Maybe we’re asking whether we should tell the truth while Scripture has already told us not to lie.
Maybe we’re asking whether we should continue in something we know is pulling us away from God.
Maybe we’re asking God to confirm something because we don’t particularly like what His Word already says.
Sometimes the silence isn’t an absence of instruction.
Sometimes we are waiting for God to give us a different answer.
Jesus said:
“If ye love me, keep my commandments.”— John 14:15 KJV
There are certainly decisions Scripture doesn’t specifically address. It doesn’t name the house we should buy, the job we should accept, the city we should live in, or every relationship decision we will face.
But walking faithfully in what God has already revealed creates a very different posture from ignoring what He has said while continually asking Him for something new.
Distance Doesn’t Usually Happen All at Once
Most people don’t wake up one morning and announce:
“Today I am going to distance myself from God.”
It happens gradually.
A little less prayer.
A little less Scripture.
A little more distraction.
A little more self-reliance.
A little less sensitivity when something doesn’t sit right.
A little more dependence upon our own understanding.
Until eventually we find ourselves saying:
“God, where are You?”
And perhaps He has been exactly where He has always been.
The better question may be:
Where have I been?
That isn’t condemnation.
It’s an invitation.
Because recognizing distance means we can turn around.
You Don’t Have to Earn Your Way Back
This matters.
If you recognize yourself somewhere in this teaching, don’t turn this into another reason to condemn yourself.
Don’t decide you need to pray for three hours, read twenty chapters of Scripture, behave perfectly for two weeks, and somehow prove to God that you deserve His attention again.
Relationship with God doesn’t work that way.
Return.
Talk to Him.
Tell Him the truth.
“Father, I realize I’ve been coming mostly because I need answers.”
“I’ve allowed other things to take my attention.”
“I’ve been asking You for direction without really spending time with You.”
“I’ve been frustrated because You haven’t answered the way I expected.”
“I’ve been distant.”
And then stay.
Not until you get your answer.
Stay because He is God.
What If Prayer Became Less About Getting an Answer and More About Staying Close?
There is something beautiful about what Jesus says later in John 15:
“If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will…”— John 15:7 KJV
Notice the order.
Abide in Me.
My words abide in you.
Then ask.
Prayer grows out of relationship.
And the longer we abide with Him, something begins happening to the things we ask.
His Word begins shaping our desires.
His character begins changing our perspective.
Some requests become more important.
Others become less important.
Some things we desperately wanted begin losing their hold on us.
Sometimes the circumstances haven’t changed at all, but we have changed in His presence.
And sometimes we discover that the thing we were desperately asking God to explain isn’t nearly as frightening when we’re walking closely with Him.
We thought we needed a map.
Maybe what we needed was the Shepherd.
We thought we needed certainty.
Maybe what we needed was trust.
We thought we needed God to tell us everything about where we were going.
Maybe He wanted us close enough to follow Him one step at a time.
Come Closer
So if you have been praying:
“God, why aren’t You answering me?”
perhaps don’t begin by praying harder.
Don’t immediately search for another formula.
Don’t assume God is angry.
Don’t assume His silence means rejection.
Just examine the relationship.
Have I been abiding?
Have I been seeking Him when I don’t need something?
Have I been listening to what He has already said?
Have I slowly allowed other things to occupy the place where intimacy with God once lived?
Have I been seeking His voice—or merely an answer?
And perhaps most importantly:
If God didn’t answer this question today, would I still want to spend today with Him?
Because perhaps the invitation hidden inside this season isn’t merely:
“Wait for My answer.”
Perhaps it is:
“Come closer.”
Maybe we have been asking God to speak while slowly moving away from Him.
And maybe the first answer isn’t another instruction.
Maybe it is the same invitation Jesus has been giving all along:
“Abide in me.”
Much Love
~Gayla~
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