Walking out of a church has never been the same as walking out of God's reach.
If you left, you may carry a quiet conclusion about it. You chose to go, so God must have closed the file on you. It's a belief that rarely says itself out loud, so it shows up in smaller ways.
It might look like a song you used to sing playing in a coffee shop, and a sudden tightness in your chest. Some days a prayer starts to form and you stop it halfway, because it feels like knocking on a door you shut yourself. Whatever your reasons for leaving, that conclusion deserves a second look.
Where can I go to escape Your Spirit? Where can I flee from Your presence? If I ascend to the heavens, You are there; if I make my bed in Sheol, You are there.
Wherever you went when you left, God was already there, and he has not written you off.
The psalmist pictures the farthest places a person could end up, high or low, and can't find one without God in it. Whatever distance you've put between yourself and a congregation, God has never had trouble crossing it. He has been with you in the ordinary rooms of the years since, whether you felt him there or not. If you ever want to talk with him again, you won't be starting from far away.
Try this today
- If a prayer starts to form this week, consider letting it finish, even if it's one honest sentence.
- Picture one place you've been since leaving, with God quietly there beside you.
Sit with this
What would feel different if you believed God has been with you the whole time since you left?
God, I'm not sure what you think of me after I walked away. If you've been here all along, help me believe it a little more. I'd like to talk with you again, even if I don't quite know how.
Wherever you're reading this from, you have never been out of his sight.
Amen.
Every day with God counts forever.
