We in the Shadow
Have you ever felt that God wasn’t there for you, especially during a traumatic time in your life? Maybe you were going through a crisis of faith and God seemed to disappear, or maybe a serious illness robbed you of your health and you felt spiritually alone. Perhaps someone you deeply loved unexpectedly died and instead of feeling God’s closeness, you felt that God had withdrawn from you, had forsaken you in your time of need.
At one time or another many of us have had these feelings of being forsaken by God. We may have felt guilty for feeling empty of God’s presence; we may even have wondered if something was wrong with our faith. Well-meaning church members may have told us that we needed to pray more and reminded us of Bible verses that promised God’s presence.
Still, you felt hollow inside. You may have blamed yourself, thinking that your faith was shallow or even nonexistent. You searched your heart for some sin that you thought God may be holding over your head, even though years earlier you had asked for God’s forgiveness. You reasoned that God perhaps didn’t hear you the first time. If you have ever had these experiences, you are not alone.
What may surprise you is that some of the celebrated figures of Scripture, people like Abraham, Moses, Jesus, and many of the disciples, also had these feelings of God’s absence during difficult times. They, too, experienced times in their spiritual lives when God seemed far away.
During my almost 40 years as serving as a pastor, people shared with me their stories of feeling as though God had left them high and dry when the going got tough. Sometimes these distraught believers stayed connected to the community of faith; other times, since God had seemingly left them, they felt obliged to return the snub, and left God.
Their disillusionment with God troubled me, especially when I looked into their faces and saw eyes filled with despair, empty of hope. How could I as their pastor help them understand that God was so very near, if only they knew where to look? Are there places where people can encounter God’s presence, even when they find themselves stuck in the low and dark places of faith?
We in the Shadow is a book that explores how God is present with us when all appears lost and God far away. Written for people who struggle with how or even if God is personal in any meaningful way, the book attempts to reach out to untold numbers of people who have lost hope in a God who matters or have simply given up on God altogether. Tragically, in a time when so many of us need God’s presence more than ever, we often convince ourselves that God has given up on us. The lessons from We in the Shadow reveal that nothing could be further from the truth.
Perhaps you have wandered away from the community of faith because God seems either to be absent or disinterested in your broken world. Maybe you feel ill at ease in a church culture that embraces only the sunny side of faith but ignores the darker side or even condemns those who know more shadow than light in their experiences with God.
It is my hope that We in the Shadow can help you discover that God is closer than you think, if only you know where to look. God does matter, and when God is present with us, there is hope.
If you take time to read We in the Shadow, please let me know if the book has helped you to gain a more complete picture of how divine presence is not so very far away, especially when you feel otherwise. If you think the book can help other people who are struggling with the belief in a personal God, you might consider writing a review on Amazon or Barnes and Noble or another site. When we believe that God has lost our address, we may discover to our surprise that God has been right beside us all along.
