Last week we talked about Making time for God and how we could set aside more time throughout our day to pray and open ourselves to God. But what happens when God APPEARS to not show up?  When I was doing the Introduction for the podcast I talked about knowing what it’s like to feel like you’re praying in a vault and asking, "Where is God". When you not only fell shut off from God but you’re shut off from the world.  I can say this was the absolute lowest point in my life because I wasn’t praying. I knew God wasn’t listening and I stayed there for a couple of years.

This week we are back in the book Beginning to Pray (Affiliate Link), by Metropolitan Anthony Bloom. In the first chapter, he helps us see why sometimes it appears as though God is not present.

Prayer Is A Relationship

The first thing Metropolitan Anthony reminds us is that prayer first and foremost is a relationship that is deep and can’t be forced. Either on us or on God.

If you have met someone you like and want to establish a relationship with them you make plans to get together, to get to know each other better.  The same is true with God. If we really want a relationship, we will spend time with Him. And, like a relationship with a friend, there will be times we show up both physically and mentally and times we don’t.  We may be there physically, but mentally we are just going through the motions.  If we have to work at connecting to people we can see, how much harder do we think it will be connecting to a God who lives in us, but we can’t see.  

But, just like building a friendship, we don’t give up at the first sign of struggle.  We don’t just expect it to happen, we make time to cultivate and grow the relationship.  However, if we don’t “feel” like we connect with God on a regular basis we may give up on Him in a heartbeat.  Let’s face it, if we are really honest about our relationship with God, He has a lot more to complain about us than we can complain about Him. 

Prayer Is A Moment of Judgement

Metropolitan Anthony says that meeting with God is always a moment of Judgement for us. Not in an eternal sense but a personal sense.  Think about the Israelites when God wanted to show Himself to them,

'When all the people witnessed the thunder and lightning, the sound of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking, they were afraid and trembled and stood at a distance, and said to Moses, “You speak to us, and we will listen, but do not let God speak to us, or we will die.” '

God knows everything about us and there may be times when we don’t want Him to show up because of unaddressed sin in our lives that we think we can hide from Him.  We can’t fool God.  He knows us better than we know ourselves. He wants to give us a chance to search ourselves and repent before He shows himself fully to us.  

As an Orthodox Christian, I attend confession with my priest, on a semi-regular basis.  I also have two accountability partners who I can trust and can be open and honest with. 

Unlike most people believe, confession isn’t about punishment, it’s about drawing us back to God.  The priest doesn’t forgive us, God does, but God knows that when we share our burdens they become lighter.  

In the book of James, we read, 'The prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise them up, and anyone who has committed sins will be forgiven. Therefore confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another, so that you may be healed. The prayer of the righteous is powerful and effective. '

I know a lot of people both in and out of Orthodoxy who say they don’t need to confess to anyone else,