When God seems absent

As I prepared to write out this post today, I took a moment to think about how I typically go about my day.  Granted, I have a somewhat unique position, but I still came to realize something that I think is probably shared among most people.  As I go about my day, I'll give thought to a few things about God, but I don't often look carefully for things that God may be doing, or regularly approach Him about particular situations, or even really give a lot of thought to what God might desire in whatever situations spring up.

To some degree, I think this is natural (in a sad way) for us as humans.  When Adam and Eve first disobeyed God, they seemed to suddenly be cut off from knowing what God's will would be in any given situation.  That left them on their own to figure things out.  So when we find ourselves in a situation where we wonder what would be the best thing to do, we don't have that intimate connection with God which would shine the light on it, and which we would joyfully follow.  Instead, we're left in the dark to try to figure out what might make sense, or what might work, or what we want most from the situation.

What does this mean for us in our day to day living?  It means that every decision and choice we make is one that we don't have God's direct influence and bearing on.  If we were perfect, and if we perfectly knew God's will, none of us would ever do anything that would bring harm to another.  But since we are sinful and imperfect, and since our connection with God is frayed and flawed because of sin, we can honestly say that we do not know what God may be doing in any given situation or circumstance.  That, then, causes us to feel as though God is absent, when the reality seems to be that He isn't absent, but that our connection to Him is broken.

While I know that many would say that the cure to this is to be constant in prayer and in the study of God's Word, I have started to think that it may actually mean that we fall back onto God's grace even more.  If we are uncertain about what God is doing or may intend in any given situation, we proceed based upon what we know and believe about God, knowing that we will not do it perfectly, but that our imperfection and sin is covered by the blood of Jesus and smothered by God's grace.  That means that, no matter what I may end up doing, I'm still in God's grace.  It may be the "right" or "wrong" thing to do, but it doesn't take me from the grace of God which is mine in Christ Jesus.