Today, I’d like to wrap up the lessons I gleaned from the Sunday morning sermon by Pastor Roger Morgan. A couple of days ago, I shared with you about the whispered prayers. Yesterday, we talked about Peter and the two fires. For now, let’s talk about “a little while.”

“A little while, and ye shall not see me: and again, a little while, and ye shall see me, because I go to the Father. ”

— John 16:16

Biblical scholars can’t agree on whether Jesus is speaking of His death or His ascension in this passage, for on both occasions, Jesus went to the Father and was absent from the disciples for a time. Honestly, it doesn’t really matter. Jesus knew what He meant, and that’s enough. The message is the same either way.

I want to look at the application of the verse in our lives rather than the interpretation of it in the lives of the disciples. How does this verse affect us? What can we glean from it?

In life, we (Christians) go through phases. Sometimes in our lives, we feel so close to the Lord, it’s like we can literally reach out and touch Him. Our walk is good. Our time with Him is precious. Doing His will is so easy because we want nothing more out of life than to please our Savior. We are so overcome by God’s love for us it moves us to tears. Sweet times. Precious times. Times we pray will never end. Times when we think, Yes, I’ve finally gotten the victory over my stinking flesh!

But then, there are the dry seasons. These are the times where God seems so far away, and no matter how often we seek Him, we can’t seem to find Him. The walk is a daily struggle to put one foot in front of the other. Our time with God looks futile because it seems we’ve arrived with a party of one. Doing His will becomes more difficult, and we wonder if it’s even worth it. We are so overcome by God’s absence that it moves us to tears. Hard times. Discouraging times. Times we pray will soon end. Time we think, What have I done to fall so far?

In John, Jesus told the disciples, “For a while, you’ll see me, then for a while, you won’t.” Likewise, we go through seasons when for a while, we see God at work in our lives, and for a while, we don’t. But does that mean God is not still there? Does it mean He’s not still working on our behalf? No, it means we FEEL like He’s not there or not working.

Feelings lie! God has promised He will never leave us or forsake us, no matter what our feelings tell us. He didn’t say, “For a while, I will leave you.” He said, “For a while, you won’t see me.” It’s not the same thing. Think about it, if we always saw God working, we would cease to grow. The Bible tells us “faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” (Hebrews 11:1) Things not seen! Though it seems our faith is greater during those times God feels so close, our faith actually grows during the times we struggle because we have to choose to believe God’s promises over our feelings. And when we choose to believe God, we increase our faith.

Now, I don’t know about you, but I much prefer the times when God feels close, and everything about my spiritual walk is precious. I don’t like feeling that God is nowhere to be found. I dislike the times I can’t see Him, but I know it is a necessary part of growth. After all, look at what happened to the disciples after Jesus’ ascension. For three years, they walked with Him on earth, and it seemed like they grew very little in the spiritual sense. But after Jesus’ ascension, these men turned the world upside down through their spiritual fervor. While Jesus was out of their sight, He was certainly not out of their mind.

Yes, the Christian life has seasons. Times we see God at work and times when He seems nowhere to be found. But the good news is, it’s just for a little while.