Sunday 16 May
When God Seems Absent
Phil Stedman
God seeming absent is a common experience in the Christian life. Phil shared times in his life when he's experienced God seeming absent and what he learnt about himself and God during that time. Psalms speak a lot about God seeming absent. Phil talked us through Psalm 40:1-5 and shared the following keys: Wait patiently, know that God provides a firm place, take courage that a new season will come, choose to trust God & not fill the void with other things, and choose thankfulness.
Life Group questions
When God Seems Absent
“When God Seems Absent.”
Stories
Have there been times in your life when God has felt absent?
Have there been times in your life when you have really wanted God to do a particular thing, and he has not done it?
What are some of the explanations for this that you have heard Christians give in the past?
Scripture
Read Psalm 13
What do you notice in this short psalm?
What approach does the author take to their experience of God’s absence?
Why do you think this psalm was important to that community? (We assume that it was important given that it was kept and copied and included in their worship!)
Strategy
If you were advising a Christian friend on how they might deal with the sense that God is absent, what would you say to them?
Is it problematic if someone thinks that they have a quick, simple answer to this issue? (Why / why not?)
Dealing with the sense of God’s absence is both an emotional and a theological issue. How can our responses to this experience do justice to both the emotions and the intellect?