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When God feels distant – Rev. Edmund Kyei Baffour
I came across a post online recently that really struck me. The person was talking about the India airplane crush and said, “There is no God, at least not the way people talk about Him. When you need Him the most, He will disappoint you.”
When I read the text, I felt this wasn’t someone trying to start an argument about the existence of God. Rather I saw it as someone speaking from a place of deep pain. And hence I didn’t feel the need to argue either. What I felt was compassion. Because whether we say it out loud or not, and if we will really be truthful, many of us have felt this way at some point in our lives. Maybe not in those exact words, but in our quiet thoughts… in our whispered prayers… or in tears no one else sees.
We’ve all had moments when God ‘felt’ far away. When our prayers seemed unanswered. When we believed, hoped, and still got hurt at the end. Those moments shake us. They really challenge everything we thought we believed about God. So no, I am not here to silence those feelings. But I do want to speak into them; not with debate, but with truth, love, and honesty.
First of all, we must understand that Faith Is Not a Transaction. It seems we have turned today’s Christianity into a transactional fellowship. Many have grown up thinking faith works like a simple formula. The formula that, If I do good, If I pray hard, and give faithfully to support God’s work, He will protect and bless me.
Dear friends, life doesn’t always follow that formula. There are people who gave and still lost their jobs. They were hoping for a promotion that never came. Most of us prayed that we will not lose a loved one and still lost the person. You believed that relationship was going to work, it was perfect and ‘God-ordained’ and still experienced pain.
Does that mean God isn’t real? Or could it be that we misunderstood what faith truly is?
Rev. Gideon Puplampu, the director of RTC rightly puts it this way, “God can do everything, but He doesn’t do everything, and He owes no one an explanation.”
Well, I know that’s not easy to hear. But that is the truth. And sometimes, that is what we really need to hear. God is not our employee. He is not our servant. He doesn’t work on our command. He’s not bound by our rules or timelines we set. You cannot say if He truly is God he should prove himself in healing you. Whether or not heals you he is the God that heals. He is not God because we want him to be, that is who He is. He is SOVEREIGN. He sees what we don’t see. And His silence is not always rejection, sometimes it’s preparation, protection, or simply a mystery we won’t understand right now.
Dearly Beloved, God’s Silence Is Not God’s Absence. Even Jesus, Our Lord, hanging on the cross, cried out, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” Jesus oo.
If even the Son of God felt abandoned, then surely it’s okay for us to feel that way too. But the silence of God on Good Friday was not the end, resurrection Sunday was coming. As long as we remain in Friday we will feel abandoned, we will feel neglected but the glory is ahead.
Friends, during the examination, the teacher is silent. That silence doesn’t mean the teacher is gone. It means the teacher believes you’ve been prepared for the test. In the same way, when life gets tough and heaven goes quiet, it may be because God has already put inside you what you need to face the moment. His silence doesn’t mean He doesn’t care. It means He trusts you. He trusts what He’s planted in you. He has made you a problem solver. You need to choose to see what is one the inside of you to face the obstacles or just focus on the obstacles expecting him to do what he has equipped you to do.
Papa God, just like any good teacher, is watching you closely; He is ready to help if needed, but He won’t interrupt your growth by giving you all the answers in the middle of the test.
I’ve had my own moments. Times I stayed up late at night and prayed for healing and still had to say goodbye to a loved one. Times I asked for mercy and still had to walk through pain. But later, I saw how God used those same moments to bring comfort, growth, and even joy. We must remember: God isn’t only found in miracles. He is also present in our mourning. In our questions. In our quiet growth. He does not promise us a life without pain and suffering, but he promises us his presence. In all the pain and troubles, He is there with you. No wonder Isaiah the prophet says, “When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you (Why? Because I am with you). When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze.” [Isaiah 43:2]
You will know you are in the fire, but you will not be burned. The Lord, the El-Shaddai is with you. He didn’t say because I am with you, you will not pass through the waters. He says when you pass through, my presence is with you.
So don’t say God is good when everything goes your way. That is an immature faith. A mature faith says, God is still good — even when He says no. Mature faith says, “If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to deliver us from it…. But even if he does not” it is not because he cannot (Daniel 3:17). It is because in his sovereign will he wants to allow it. We may not understand it but we believe in what he told Jeremiah, in Jeremiah 29:11. His plans for us are good, and our hope in him goes beyond this world. No wonder Paul asked, “ Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? … No, in all these things (all the listed afflictions and troubles), we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. (Romans 8:36-38)
Faith that lasts in times of trouble is faith that has been tested. Faith that doesn’t run when God is silent. Faith that holds on, even when the answer hurts.
God doesn’t owe us explanations but He gives us something far greater than an explanation. And that is His presence. And often, that quiet, steady presence is more powerful than the answer we thought we needed.
So, to the one who feels let down by God, this message is not a sermon. It’s not a lecture. It’s an invitation. You’re allowed to feel disappointed. You’re allowed to ask hard questions. You’re even allowed to feel angry. But even if you’ve walked away from God; He hasn’t walked away from you.
He sees your tears.
He hears your silence.
He understands your doubts.
And still, He waits. With open arms, just to hug you.
Maybe one day, when the pain softens and your heart is ready, you’ll realize that the God you thought had abandoned you… was quietly walking beside you the whole time.
With love and grace,
Rev. Edmund Kyei Baffour
Sekyere Presbytery JY Coordinator
