Check out the featured post and read more here: https://www.ibelieve.com/christian-living/finding-god-when-you-feel-nothing.html
According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, Apathy is defined as “a lack of feeling or emotion.” It’s a “lack of interest or concern,” and originates from the Greek siblings, antipathy, sympathy, and empathy. Also called numbness or emptiness, it goes deeper than indifference.
Although I used to be an English teacher, I’m not here to give you a language lesson. But I am here to help you understand how and why apathy might be creeping up in your life. And not just your day-to-day life, but your spiritual life.
When faith feels flat and quiet, we find ourselves praying without emotion. We worship, but feel empty. Perhaps even Scripture doesn’t hit us like it used to. All of us, even if we don’t like to admit it, experience these times of numbness. But numbness doesn’t equal faithlessness. It doesn’t mean that God has left us, even if it feels that way. No, numbness is often a signal, not a failure.
If you’re feeling spiritually numb today, you’re in good company. Here are 3 steps for finding God amidst these feelings:
1. Stop Interpreting Numbness as Spiritual Failure
The moment we stop “feeling” God, we think we’ve failed Him. But numbness is often self-protection, exhaustion, or grief, not sin.
We’re even quick to make assumptions about ourselves:
- “Something’s wrong with my faith.”
- “God feels far because I did something wrong.”
- “I’m so worn thin, God is ashamed of my struggles.”
Instead of accepting these assumptions, we need to challenge and reframe them. Remember: emotional numbness is often a nervous system response. Our mental health and spiritual life are connected.
In Psalm 13, David, a man after God’s own heart, even felt this way:
“How long, Lord? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? How long must I wrestle with my thoughts and day after day have sorrow in my heart? How long will my enemy triumph over me?” (Psalm 13:1-2, NIV).
Psalm 77, a Psalm of Asaph, a worship leader, pens similar words: “I cried out to God for help; I cried out to God to hear me. When I was in distress, I sought the Lord; at night I stretched out untiring hands, and I would not be comforted” (Psalm 77:1-2, NIV).
But even amidst these feelings of despair, Romans 8:38-39 reminds us: “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (NIV). Feelings don’t equate faithfulness.
Instead of ridiculing yourself, or asking “What’s wrong with me?” try gently asking yourself, “What might I be carrying?” Bring these requests to the Lord in a prayer, and ask Him to help you see this situation clearly. Remember: Feelings aren’t the enemy, but they can be powerful indicators of what’s happening in our lives.