Trust Truth, Not Goose Bumps

[Rita Hancock]

One time, at a church meeting, I met a lady who accepted Christ but didn’t believe she was saved because she didn’t in some way “hear” or “feel” God. She said she knew lots of Christians who could “hear” and “feel” God, and she figured because she couldn’t, there was something wrong with her. She wondered if maybe she wasn’t really saved.

Deep down, she longed for that passionate zeal that she saw others as having. She wanted to feel goose bumps in church. She wanted to be slain in the Spirit. She wanted to feel some kind of obvious sign that she was connected. But all she had was intellectual knowledge about God, and that felt inadequate to her. So, she ate to fill the void.

Let me encourage you that if you feel disconnected from God, and you’re longing for something (Him), food is a poor substitute. Just because you don’t feel God, it doesn’t mean He isn’t there and it doesn’t mean you aren’t saved.

Anytime you don’t sense God’s presence, the problem is likely to be on your end, not His. God is everywhere, all the time. “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” (Romans 8:38-39).

So, start asking God what the problem is. You want truth, right? If you don’t hear God, find out why. Ask Him, “Lord, is there a barrier that’s keeping me from hearing You? Do I have hidden sin? Do I believe lies about You, me, or others? Do I need to forgive somebody who hurt me? Do I need to apologize to someone? Will you please overcome any barriers that I created and give me truth, anyway?”

I.e., if you aren’t getting answers, maybe it’s because you aren’t asking questions—or maybe you aren’t asking the right questions. Search for truth, “Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (John 8:32).