Dealing with Distance - What Should I Do When I Realize God Is Not Near?

Have you ever heard the story before about a farmer, his wife, and their old pickup truck? In case you haven’t, it goes something like this: one day a farmer and his wife were driving down the road in their old truck. This truck had bench-style seating instead of a middle console. The farmer’s wife was sitting at the opposite end of the cab from her husband. She said, “Honey, when we were newlyweds, we used to sit right next to each other when we drove in this truck. Now look at us. What happened?” The farmer thought for a moment and then replied, “Well darlin’, I don’t know, but I haven’t moved.”

Sometimes, either through the preaching or teaching of a fellow Christian or the example someone sets as they live out their faith, we become aware of the distance between us and God. The best possible response when we recognize that distance of course would be to ask, “What role did I play in creating that distance, and what can I do now to close that distance?” This was the response of some of the audience gathered in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost. When they heard Peter and the other apostles preach the reality of Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection and recognized their role in crucifying Him, they asked, “Men and brethren, what shall we do?” (Acts 2:37).

The reason this audience wanted to do something was because the message Peter preached “cut to the heart” (Acts 2:37). This is what the Word of God is designed to do. The Hebrews author says, “For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart” (Hebrews 4:12). Every encounter with Scripture is an exploratory surgery. Sometimes, because the Holy Spirit has already been at work with His inspired Word, the surgery confirms that there is no issue (Romans 8:16). Sometimes though, the surgery uncovers a cancerous mass of sin that needs to be removed. It is sin that separates, or creates distance, from God (Isaiah 59:1-2).

When literal cancer is discovered, sometimes patients refuse treatment. Likewise, sometimes people who become aware of the distance between them and God because of sin don’t take positive steps like the people on Pentecost to do something about it. Similar language to that found in Acts 2:37 is used to describe the audience that heard Stephen’s sermon: “When they heard these things they were cut to the heart” (Acts 7:54). Rather than ask “What shall we do?” though, this audience “gnashed at him with their teeth […] And they stoned Stephen” (Acts 7:54, 59).

This “shoot the messenger” response is unfortunately probably the most common response when people learn about the distance between themselves and God. God has specifically chosen “the foolishness of  the message preached to save those who believe” (1 Corinthians 1:21). Since there cannot be a “message preached” without “a preacher” (Romans 10:13-16), this means that an imperfect messenger is God’s primary vehicle for delivering His perfect message. This presents any number of opportunities for those who aren’t looking to change. They can easily dismiss the message because of the real or perceived faults of the messenger (e.g. 2 Corinthians 10:10) or, like Stephen’s audience, they can deflect their attention from themselves to someone else. No person makes for an easier target in this moment than the one who raised the issue in the first place, i.e., the messenger.  Sometimes when a message or a faithful example offends, the thought process of the offended person can be, “If I could only defeat the messenger, then I would prove that I am right.”

The lengths to which people will go in such efforts is incredible. One day in a synagogue, a group of Pharisees gathered to see what Jesus would do with a man in attendance “who had a withered hand” (Mark 3:1-2). Jesus not only healed the man on this occasion; he also called out the Pharisees by asking them a searching question (Mark 3:3-5). The Bible says, “Then the Pharisees went out and immediately plotted with the Herodians against Him” (Mark 3:6). This is a pretty incredible outcome. The Herodians were members of an opposing sect of the Jews; as the name suggests, this sect in particular tried to curry political favor with Herod, a gentile king. For the Pharisees, Jews who emphasized purity and purposeful disconnection with sinners and gentiles, this meeting is incredibly out of character. Today, people cross similar lines when they turn to Google to find arguments against a given Biblical teaching or practice. If they find something that agrees with them, then it doesn’t really matter what else the source they discover teaches or does; all that matters is that they have corroboration for their point.

Of course, sometimes people do manage to separate the messenger from the message but still don’t respond in the right way. Like the farmer’s wife in the story above, they blame God for the distance. However, just like the farmer, it is not God who has moved. God never moves!

Ezekiel envisioned a conversation between his people and God, “Yet the house of Israel says, 'The way of the Lord is not fair.' O house of Israel, is it not My ways which are fair, and your ways which are not fair?” (Ezekiel 18:29). Whenever our response to God’s Word is, “That’s not fair,” or, “I don’t think that should matter,” or, “The Bible’s wrong for saying that,” or other statements like these, we’ve really not understood what we’re saying and what we’re doing. We’re saying that God is right and we’re wrong (which is never true – Romans 3:4), and we’re effectively trying to sit in God’s seat and judge as though we were God. Isaiah describes how ridiculous this is when he says, “Woe to the one who quarrels with his Maker—An earthenware vessel among the vessels of earth! Will the clay say to the potter, 'What are you doing?' Or the thing you are making say, 'He has no hands'?” (Isaiah 45:9 NASB). God, our Maker, has every right to tell us we are wrong and encourage us to change.

When we hear or see the Word of God preached, taught, or lived in the life of a fellow Christian and become aware of our own sin, we need to fight the temptation to be angry at the person or at God. Our wrath in such a moment will never work God’s righteousness (James 1:20). We need to learn to slow down and listen without speaking or reacting (James 1:19). It’s natural and good for us to test the messenger and his message against the Bible (1 Thessalonians 5:21; 1 John 4:1). If the message is true, then it is time for us, not God or anyone else, to move. As Acts 2:37 and Acts 7:54 illustrate, the difference between a lifegiving surgery and a potentially mortal wound lies not in the skill of the surgeon but the response of the patient. May God help us to develop soft hearts, open ears and eyes, and eager minds.

-Patrick Swayne  
patrick@tftw.org