When God Feels Silent

There are moments in the Christian journey when God seems gone utterly and uncomfortably absent. You pray, but the heavens feel sealed. You seek, but all you find is silence. C.S. Lewis once described it like this “A door slammed in your face, and a sound of bolting and double bolting on the inside.” These aren’t rare experiences. They are painfully familiar for many believers.

So what do we do when it feels like God is hiding?

The Lived-Absence of God

One reason God may feel absent is that we are living as though He doesn’t exist. This isn’t always conscious rebellion. It can be subtle a slow drift into a spiritual fog where we functionally forget God in our decisions, emotions, or priorities. As theologian Stephen Charnock described it, this is practical atheism living as though God isn’t real, even if we profess faith.

Sometimes, this detachment stems from unconfessed sin. When we cherish sin, we begin to desire God's absence, not His presence. Our hearts resist His holiness, and in doing so, we cut ourselves off from the felt reality of His nearness. As Isaiah 59:2 says, “Your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God.” In this case, the remedy is repentance and confession not because God has truly left, but because we’ve turned our backs.

Abandonment in Affliction

Yet other times, the silence is not from sin but from sorrow. Tragedy strikes. Loved ones die. Prayers go unanswered. In these valleys, we look for God and are met with silence. Lewis captured this grief vividly in A Grief Observed, written after the death of his wife. He wondered, Was God ever really there? Or did I only imagine it?

Elijah felt this too as he fled to a cave, exhausted and fearful (1 Kings 19). He expected thunder and fire something grand and unmistakable. But God showed up in a whisper. Sometimes, God doesn’t shout. He waits in the silence.

Invisible by Nature, Not Absent by Action

It’s easy to assume that if we don’t feel God, He must not be there. But as theologian Fernand Van Steenberghen notes, the God of Christianity is by nature invisible not because He is absent, but because He is Spirit. We should not expect Him to appear in physical form or manifest in sensory ways.

God is “always already present,” sustaining every atom, every sunrise, every breath. As Paul preached in Acts 17:28, “In him we live and move and have our being.” To miss God’s presence is often a matter not of His absence, but of our inattention. As John Calvin observed, God’s fingerprints are everywhere: in creation, in conscience, in the Word.

Why He Sometimes Feels Distant

So why does God allow us to feel this absence? Sometimes, it’s to wake us up. We’ve gone numb to Him. Other times, it’s to deepen our faith. As Job said in the midst of suffering, “He knows the way that I take; when he has tried me, I shall come out as gold” (Job 23:10). Silence is not neglect it can be preparation.

And often, God’s hiddenness is a form of grace. If He overwhelmed us with His glory, we might never grow in patience, humility, or perseverance. Silence teaches trust. The Father does not always explain Himself, but He never stops watching.

How to Respond When God Feels Gone

What can we do when the silence persists?

1. Cry Out in Prayer
Psalm 34:17 says, “When the righteous cry for help, the Lord hears and delivers them.” Even if it feels like no one is listening, God is. Cry out in faith.

2. Return Through Repentance
If sin has dulled your sense of God, confess it. “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us” (1 John 1:9). There’s no shame in turning back—only grace.

3. Seek in the Scriptures
God speaks, still. His voice echoes through every page of the Bible. Don’t wait to feel Him before you read. Read, and let your heart remember what’s true.

4. Worship in the Waiting
Sing the truths you struggle to believe. Worship isn’t a performance—it’s a declaration of faith in the dark. The psalms are filled with songs sung in suffering.

5. Cling to the Church
God’s presence is revealed not just in solitude, but in community. Don’t isolate yourself. Be with His people. Let them carry you when your faith feels weak.

6. Remember His Sacrifice
Look again at the cross. If God did not abandon you there, He won’t abandon you now. “He who did not spare his own Son… how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?” (Romans 8:32).

He’s Closer Than You Feel

When you can’t hear Him, He’s still listening. When you can’t see Him, He’s still watching. When your hands are too weak to hold on, He’s still holding you. The promise of Jesus is not that we will always feel God’s presence, but that He is with us always, to the end of the age (Matthew 28:20).

So if you’re walking through silence, don’t walk away. Press in. Wait. Whisper His name. And trust that the hidden God is still the present God.

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