Episode #311 When You Don’t Feel Like Spending Time with God – Unforced Rhythms of Grace

Hey friend, have you ever woken up and knew that it was time for your quiet time with God, but you just didn't have the appetite for it? It didn't feel exciting. There wasn't an eagerness like there is some other days. No, just me? I'm guessing not. I'm guessing we all can relate to wanting to want to spend time with God, but having other things distract us or pull our attention or our affection. For me, sometimes when that happens, guilt can try and creep in. I really should want him more than I want him right now. Oh, how ungrateful am I? I have beat myself up in the past. And so if that is at all familiar to you, I wanna share some encouragement and some freedom for you today.

Even the smallest desire for God counts. God will meet you where you are and he will grow your longing for him.
And personally, I know from my own experience that one of the ways to cultivate a desire for God is by spending time with him anyway. I bring to him both the fact of like, Hey, God, I don't really want to spend time with you right now, and that's not how I wanna feel towards you and I'm gonna choose to spend time with you anyway. Because I know that you love me. And I know that I love you. And I know that you have good for me. And so I want to walk out my faith by choosing you even when I don't feel like it.

And then there's a third thing. One of my favorite all time TV shows is called The West Wing. Let me know if you watch it and you love it. I have the whole thing on box DVD set. That's how much a fan I am. And there's a quote in one of the episodes, I think quoting another author or a book or something. And the quote goes, “Lord, I hope the fact that I want to please you pleases you.” And that's what we're talking about today. Because I believe that it does.

The fact that we want to please him, pleases him.

The fact that we want to want to spend time with him, pleases him.

And we can bring that lack before him and ask for him to help us with it because God is faithful even when we falter. Even when we are not faithful, even when our attention is pulled in other places, God is faithful in how he shows up for us.
I wanna read for us from Hosea chapter 11. I'll read verses 1-4, and then I'll read the beginning of verse 7. And the heading in my Bible says, God's Love for Israel.

1 “When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son.

2 But the more they were called, the more they went away from me.
They sacrificed to the Baals and they burned incense to images.

3 It was I who taught Ephraim to walk, taking them by the arms;
but they did not realize it was I who healed them.

4 I led them with cords of human kindness, with ties of love.
To them I was like one who lifts a little child to the cheek, and I bent down to feed them.

And then in verse seven,

7 My people are determined to turn from me… Even though they call me God Most High, I will by no means exalt them.
In this passage, we see God using this beautiful imagery of a loving, active, involved parent. He talks about how he called his people Israel out of Egypt, where they were enslaved. But the more they were called, the more they turned away. And they sacrificed to gods. They burned incense to other images, even though they were created as God's image bearers. He taught them, and then God continues to use this visual of a loving father who taught them to walk, picking them up by the arms. They didn't realize it was him.

In Richard Foster's book, the Celebration of Discipline, he says, “We must desire to be conquered and ruled by God, or if we do not desire it, to desire to desire it.”

Now, Foster and I disagree a little on language here, but we agree on the core message. See, our will gets to be conformed and aligned to what God says is best. And that comes by submitting ourselves under God's authority, his rule. We are queens and kings in his kingdom. And where we do not desire it, we can desire to desire it. We can desire to yield ourselves over to God, to receive the good that he has for us and to reject all that is contrary to it. I am determined to turn toward God and I'm gonna ask him to help me do that.

Remember the heart of the Father for you, that even in the times that we turn away, even in the times that we don't recognize him or we don't have an appetite for him, we can decide that we want to want him. We can decide to act in accordance with his goodness toward us and to seek him anyway. And to ask for his help to cultivate our love for him, and to help us experience more of him. Because every time we do that, that desire, that longing for him grows.

And so my question is two parts for us today. I wanna encourage you to look back at how God has pursued you in the past, even in times when you didn't recognize him. And then to the present and ask him for insight about how he is still in pursuit of your heart.

And so here's our two questions:

God, how have you pursued me? And God, how are you pursuing me now?

Have a good talk.

And if you've been encouraged by this content, please share it with a friend and help them grow in their conversational relationship with God too!

Connect with Jen on Instagram