When God feels distant, it’s one of the loneliest experiences in the Christian life. You’re showing up for prayer, reading your Bible, doing all the “right things,” but it feels like you’re talking to a wall. The closeness you once felt is gone, and no matter how hard you try, you can’t seem to get it back.
Maybe you’re wondering if you did something wrong. Maybe you’re questioning whether God is even there at all. Or maybe you’re just exhausted from trying so hard to feel something… anything, and coming up empty every single time.
Here’s what I need you to know… feeling like God is far away doesn’t mean He actually is. And more importantly, this season of spiritual dryness doesn’t mean you’re doing something wrong or that your faith is broken.
Let me walk you through what to do when God feels distant so you can navigate this season without losing hope or abandoning your faith entirely.
Why Does God Feel Distant? (Understanding Spiritual Dryness)
Before we talk about what to do, let’s address why this happens, because understanding the “why” helps you stop blaming yourself.
God can feel distant for several reasons:
Normal Spiritual Seasons
Just like relationships have seasons, so does your walk with God. There are times of intense closeness and times of quiet. This doesn’t mean God has left, it means you’re in a different season that serves a different purpose in your spiritual growth.
Every mature believer goes through seasons when God feels distant. It’s not a sign of failure, it’s often a sign that God is doing deeper work in you than feelings can carry.
Emotional Exhaustion or Depression
Sometimes when God feels far away, it’s actually your brain chemistry or emotional state creating that distance, not God pulling back. Depression, anxiety, burnout, and grief can all make it nearly impossible to feel God’s presence, even though He hasn’t moved.
If you’re dealing with mental health struggles, the spiritual dryness you’re experiencing may be a symptom of that, not a separate spiritual problem.
Unconfessed Sin or Unresolved Issues
Sometimes… not always, but sometimes, God feels distant because there’s something between you and Him that needs to be addressed. Unconfessed sin, unforgiveness, or refusing to deal with something God’s been asking you to face can create a sense of separation.
This isn’t God punishing you or playing hide-and-seek. It’s the natural consequence of turning away from intimacy.
God is Teaching You to Walk by Faith, Not Feelings
God wants you to trust Him even when you can’t feel Him. He wants you build your faith to rely on His character and His Word, not on emotional experiences.
This is actually one of the most important spiritual lessons you’ll ever learn, that God’s presence isn’t dependent on your ability to feel it.
What to Do When God Feels Distant: Keep Showing Up
The worst thing you can do when God feels distant is to stop showing up entirely.
I know it’s hard. I know it feels pointless to pray when it seems like no one’s listening or to read the Bible when the words feel flat and meaningless. But this is exactly when showing up matters most.
Here’s why:
Your relationship with God isn’t built on feelings, it’s built on faithfulness. When you keep showing up even when you don’t feel like it, you’re building spiritual muscle that will carry you through every future season of your faith.
Think of it like a marriage. There are seasons when you feel deeply connected to your spouse, and seasons when the relationship feels routine or distant. The couples who make it aren’t the ones who only invest when they feel close, they’re the ones who keep showing up, keep choosing each other, even when the feelings aren’t there.
Practically, this looks like:
- Praying even when it feels like talking to the ceiling
- Reading Scripture even when it doesn’t move you emotionally
- Going to church even when you don’t feel like worshiping
- Staying connected to Christian community even when you feel isolated
You’re not trying to manufacture feelings. You’re choosing faithfulness over feelings. And that choice is what transforms shallow faith into deep, unshakable trust. One of the hardest parts of showing up when God feels distant is prayer itself. When it feels like your prayers are hitting the ceiling and bouncing back, you need strategies to keep praying anyway.
(If you’re struggling to engage with Scripture during this season, my post on How to Understand the Bible Without Feeling Overwhelmed has practical strategies that can help you connect with God’s Word even when it feels dry.)
How to Navigate When God Feels Distant: Be Honest With Him
One of the most liberating things you can do when God feels far away is to stop pretending everything is fine.
God already knows you feel distant. He knows you’re struggling. He knows you’re confused, hurt, or angry about the silence. Pretending you’re not won’t bring you closer to Him, honesty will.
Pour out your heart to God exactly as it is:
- “God, I feel like You’re a million miles away and I hate it.”
- “I don’t understand why You feel so absent right now.”
- “I’m showing up, but I don’t know if this is even working anymore.”
- “I’m scared that You’ve left me or that I’ve done something to push You away.”
The Psalms are full of this kind of raw, unfiltered honesty. David repeatedly cried out, “How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me?” (Psalm 13:1). And God didn’t rebuke him for that—He included it in Scripture.
Honest prayer isn’t disrespectful. It’s intimate. It’s the kind of prayer that actually opens the door to real relationship instead of religious performance.
Get a journal and write out your honest prayers. Don’t edit yourself. Don’t try to sound spiritual. Just tell God what you’re really feeling. This process alone can help you process the distance and often reveals things you didn’t even realize you were carrying.
What to Do When God Feels Distant: Read About Others Who’ve Been There
One of the most helpful things some people can do when God feels distant is reading books by people who’d walked through spiritual dryness and come out the other side.
Knowing you’re not alone, that this is a normal part of the Christian journey, takes away so much of the fear and shame. You realize this isn’t unique to you, and that faithful people throughout history have experienced the same thing.
I especially recommend God on Mute by Pete Greig. Pete wrote this book after walking through a season where God felt completely silent while his wife battled a brain tumor. It’s honest, raw, and theologically sound. He doesn’t give you pat answers or try to spiritualize the pain away, he walks you through how to keep faith alive when God feels absent.
Reading stories of others who’ve navigated spiritual dryness and found their way back to closeness with God gives you hope that this season won’t last forever and that God is still faithful even when He feels far away.
The darkness isn’t the end of your story. It’s often just the middle.
When God Feels Distant: Examine Your Expectations
Sometimes God feels distant because our expectations of what relationship with Him should look like are unrealistic or unhealthy.
If you’re expecting to feel emotionally moved every time you pray, you’re setting yourself up for disappointment. If you think experiencing God should always be easy, exciting, and obvious, you’re going to feel abandoned when the hard seasons come.
Ask yourself:
- Am I expecting God to show up the way He used to, instead of being open to how He’s showing up now?
- Am I measuring God’s presence by my feelings instead of by His promises?
- Have I built my faith on spiritual experiences rather than on who God actually is?
- Am I demanding God prove Himself to me instead of trusting His character?
Adjusting your expectations doesn’t mean lowering your standards or settling for less. It means aligning your expectations with the reality of what walking with God actually looks like over a lifetime, which includes both mountaintops and valleys, both clarity and mystery, both closeness and distance.
God’s goal isn’t to keep you feeling spiritual highs. His goal is to transform you into someone who trusts Him no matter what you feel.
Practical Steps for When God Feels Distant
Let me give you some concrete actions you can take right now if you’re in this season:
1. Set a timer for 10 minutes and pray anyway
You don’t have to pray for an hour. Just commit to 10 minutes of honest conversation with God, even if it feels one-sided. Consistency matters more than length.
2. Read one Psalm out loud every day
The Psalms give you language for what you’re feeling. They teach you how to cry out to God when you don’t have your own words.
3. Write down three things you know to be true about God
When feelings fail, facts anchor you. Write down truths like “God is faithful,” “God loves me,” “God keeps His promises.” Read them when doubt creeps in.
4. Tell one trusted person what you’re going through
Don’t walk through this alone. Find someone safe who won’t judge you or try to fix you with clichés, and let them know you’re struggling.
5. Create space for silence and listening
Sometimes we’re so busy talking at God or trying to feel God that we miss the quiet ways He’s speaking. Sit in silence for 10 minutes and just be present. Don’t force anything.
6. Use a guided resource to walk you through this season
If you’re in a season where God feels distant and you need practical help navigating it, I created a 30-day guided journey specifically for this. Each day gives you Scripture, reflection questions, and practical steps to help you reconnect with God even when He feels far away. It’s the resource I wish I’d had when I was walking through my own season of spiritual dryness.
This Season Won’t Last Forever
Here’s the promise I’m holding onto for you: when God feels distant, it doesn’t mean He’s actually gone.
God hasn’t moved. He hasn’t abandoned you. He hasn’t given up on you. He’s right there, even if you can’t sense Him, doing work in you that goes deeper than feelings can touch.
This season of feeling like God is far away is temporary. It won’t last forever. And when you come out on the other side, your faith will be stronger, your trust will be deeper, and your relationship with God will be more solid than it ever could have been if you only knew Him through emotional experiences.
Keep showing up. Keep being honest. Keep looking for Him. Keep trusting His character even when you can’t feel His presence.
The closeness you’re longing for will return. And when it does, you’ll realize God was never actually distant at all, you were just learning to recognize Him in new ways.
For now, walk by faith, not by sight. And know that even in the darkness, you’re not walking alone.