The Absence of God

My head is spinning.
When it comes to feeling as if God far away, I'm usually the one asking, "What did I do wrong?"
It's a similar kind of question as "Why is there suffering in the world when God is good?" But, I don't want to go there.
What is going on when you one day begin feeling as though the presence of God is gone? And that day turns into weeks? Or Months? What does that mean? Did you do something? Does that mean God is different than you thought? Do you even care enough to notice?
I'm going to process "out loud" some things I recently read by E. Peterson,

Many don't notice in the story of the Exodus (Isreal being saved out of slavery from Egypt) that prior to their freedom God is silent for over 400 years! What was He doing? There aren't many teachers of scholars talking about that fact. Peterson says, "That they haven't made much of it is unfortunate, for this seemingly unending stretch of the experience of the absence of God is reproduced in most of our lives, and most of us don't know wyat to make of it. We need this Exodus validation that a sense of the absence of God is part of the story, and that it is neither exceptional nor preventable nor a judgment on the way we are living out lives." WOW!

This doesn't usually fit into our mindset of Salvation. For those who have graduated from Salvation being 'what happens after I die' to 'living a new ressurection life today and forever' we struggle with God not being sensed in our lives today. It's not "normal".

"But it is normal" says Peterson.

See the prayerbooks, Psalms, or Church history and we'll see that, "Belief in God does not exempt us from feelings of abandonment by God. Praising God does not inoculate us from doubts about God. Meditating devoutly on God's word does not establish us securely in "the arms of Jesus." does not insulate us from all feelings of abandonment, darkness and aridity."

Psalm 22
"My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
Why are you so far from helping me, from the words
of my groaning?
O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer;
and by night, but find no rest."

Check this out!
"Jesus hanging on the cross used this same prayer at the very moment that he was completing the work of salvation! On Jesus' lips this prayer validates the experience of the absence of God as integral to our participation in salvation.

Why do you stand far off, O Lord?
Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble? Ps 10

How long, Oh Lord? Will you forget me forever?
How long will you hide your face from me? PS 13

Why have you forgotten me? Ps 42

Wake up God! Why do you sleep, O God?
Awake! Do not cast us off forever!
Why do you hid your face?
Why do you forget our affliction and oppression? Ps 44

You get the point....

One more quote by Peterson,

"These witnesses ot the experience of God's absence in the country of salvation are enormously important. They are rarely celebrated, whether in or out of church-this is not an area of life that most of us take kindly to-and not infrequently suppressed. But (here we go!) given our consumerist tendencies to shop for a god or goddess who will cater to our appetites for coziness and good feelings, they are necessary. Necessary to keep us alert and attentive to the mystery of God whose "ways are past finding out." Necessary to prevent us from reducing God Almighty to god-at-my-beck-and-call. Necessary to place disciplined constraints on our collective (especially North American) "spiritual sweet tooth." Necessary to enlarge our readiness for salvation beyond our carefully fenced in and devoutly tended backyard spirituality gardens.

Any understanding of God that does not take into account God's silence is a half truth-in effect, a cruel distortion-and leaves us vulnerable to manipulation and exploitation by leaders who are quite willing to fill in the biblical blanks with what the Holy Spirit never tells us."

For those who read it all, what are your thoughts? Its a bit freeing for me. That Jesus felt and was separated from the father and in that moment completed the work of salvation, tells me that not sensing God presence does not mean I'm out of His will or walking on a road other than the road of Salvation.