The REAL Reason Some Christians Feel Abandoned By God

According to Scripture, God will never abandon a Christian, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you,” (Hebrews 13:5, NIV).

So why does it sometimes feel like God has abandoned you? Here are 4 possible reasons.

1. You Are Believing a Lie from the Devil that Is Making You Feel Abandoned By God

I recently made a video about spirit spouses that made some people really upset. Even though I repeatedly said that I believe in spiritual warfare because the Bible points to this reality (Ephesians 6:12, 1 Peter 5:8), I also said that if you are a Christian I don’t believe that demons can control your body, inject bad thoughts directly into your mind, or control your life in direct ways. According to Scripture, when Jesus sets you free and the Holy Spirit lives in you, the devil can no longer control you directly like he once could when you were an unbeliever (1 John 4:4, James 4:7, 2 Corinthians 3:17, Galatians 5:1, Colossians 1:13-14, Colossians 2:9-10, John 8:36).

So if Satan and his demons can no longer directly control Christians because of the Holy Spirit in us, how is that we can still be under spiritual attack? The Bible is clear that the enemy is still attacking Christians constantly, but now they do so by proclaiming lies through unbelievers and false prophets (1 Timothy 4:1-2).

In the Bible Satan is not called the father of possession, the father of control, or the father of earthly problems. No, the Bible tells us that the devil is the father of lies (John 8:44). Therefore, one reason you may feel abandoned by God is because you are believing the lie from Satan, “God has abandoned you.” Satan has no power to control you, but if you believe his lies you are going to fall for his attacks.

If you’ve believed this lie that God has abandoned you, repent by rejecting it. Say, “I reject the lie that God has abandoned me. For it is written, ‘Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you,’ (Hebrews 13:5, NIV).” When you reject the lie and embrace God’s truth, the lie loses all power in your life.

2. You Have Abandoned Him and Have Not Yet Repented, So You Feel Abandoned By God

When you are truly saved, you cannot lose your salvation. Of course many people think they are saved when they are truly not, but if they turn from Christ it means they were never truly saved to begin with (1 John 2:19). And those who are truly saved will be showing the fruits of the Spirit rather than the deeds of the flesh (Galatians 5:16-26). They will repent of sin and seek to be sanctified in Christ more and more as life goes on (Romans 6:1-4, Hebrews 10:14).

With that said, Christians still sin at times and it’s possible to go through a season of backsliding (1 John 1:8-10). Therefore, while your sin cannot outweigh the grace of God (Romans 5:20), your sin can cause issues with your personal relationship with God. In other words, while true Christians can go through a season of backsliding before repenting one day, during that season or rebellion their closeness with Christ will suffer.

Therefore, it’s certainly possible that you feel abandoned by God not because he has abandoned you but because you are currently running from him. But as 2 Timothy 2:13 states,  “. . . if we are faithless, he remains faithful—for he cannot deny himself.” God’s grace for you is not rooted in your deservedness. It is rooted in his nature, his power, and his character.

Repent, turn to Christ, and the Bible says God will forgive you. Your connection will be restored by the blood of Jesus (1 John 1:9, 1 John 2:1-2) and you will feel the truth that you can come boldly into God’s presence because Jesus is our High Priest (Hebrews 4:14-16).

3. You Are Projecting Human Relationship Issues onto Your Relationship with God, So You Feel Abandoned By Him

Do you know that there is not one Bible verse in all of Scripture that commands us to trust other people? We are commanded to love people, but nowhere are we commanded to trust them. In fact, we are often told to not trust them (Jeremiah 17:5, Micah 7:5-6). We are commanded to trust in God (Proverbs 3:5-6, Psalm 37:3, Hebrews 11:6).

I’m not saying you should never trust people. Trust should be given out of our love and when we desire to have a healthy relationship with someone. I’m just pointing out the fact that you should not treat your relationships with humans the same way as you treat your relationship with God. So often we conflate the two. When something goes bad in our human relationships, we often blame God. This is not right.

We have to let God’s actions speak for God and we have to let people’s actions speak for those people. If someone in your life has abandoned you, this says nothing about God’s faithfulness. No matter what happens in your human relationships, never forget that when you are in Christ, nothing can ever separate you from the love of God (Romans 8:35-39).

4. You Are Going Through a Storm Meant to Push You Closer to Jesus, So at the Moment You Are Working Out Your Salvation

A difficult valley is not evidence God has abandoned you. As Psalm 23:4 states, “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.” It’s often in the valley that God matures us and helps us find the path to new heights with him.

Philippians 2:12-13 states, “Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.”

If you are going through a storm right now, it can feel like God has abandoned you. But he hasn’t. He’s with you, working in you, and helping you work through the hard things so that you will be even more secure in your walk with him.

Stay faithful to God, for he will always remain faithful to you.

Are you in a season of emotional suffering? Why would God allow this? Here is an article titled 3 Reasons God Is Allowing You to Emotional Suffer.