When You Feel Far from God
How Joseph O’Brien Rediscovered God’s Embrace
Have you ever felt distant from God, even while immersed in a faith-based environment? Joseph O’Brien, a contemporary Christian musician, shares a raw and relatable account from his struggles and the powerful realization that brought him back to God’s embrace.
Joseph’s journey took a surprising turn during his time at Bible college. “I think everyone expects when you go to a Bible college for you to have everything together, have all the answers,” Joseph reflects. His experience was far from that ideal. He found himself grappling with fundamental questions about his faith, feeling as if he was in a one-way relationship with God. “I was reading Scripture every day, but He felt so far away.”
Joseph’s struggles were compounded by the high expectations placed upon him. “It’s like, ‘Oh, yeah, that’s where all the pastor’s kids go,’” he says regarding the pressure he felt to have all the answers and to appear spiritually together. Especially during his sophomore year, he experienced an unprecedented spiritual dryness. “I never experienced anything like that,” he shares, revealing the depth of his struggle.
Parental Support and Persistence through Dry Spells
During this challenging season, Joseph says he leaned heavily on his parents’ prayers and encouragement. They reassured him that feeling distant from God was a common experience and urged him not to give up. “They just kept praying for me and kept encouraging me,” Joseph shares. He learned that these dry spells were not the times to abandon Scripture but to press in harder and trust that God was still there.
“The lie is that we have to be feeling on fire all the time,” Joseph explains. Recognizing the lie helped him see that feeling distant was not a sign of spiritual failure but part of the faith journey.
Wrestling with Legalism
Joseph’s struggle wasn’t just with feeling distant from God; he also battled with legalism. “I had to do this and that, this and that in order to receive God’s love and approval,” he explains. It made him feel like he had to earn God’s love, which further strained his relationship with God.
The turning point came unexpectedly at a women’s conference. “I was playing for another artist and this woman up on the stage starts talking about how she used to deal with this same thing.” Joseph recounts how a speaker shared her own struggles with legalism, which resonated deeply with him. “She would just make a fist and be like, ‘Nope, nope; I got to do this before you tell me that you love me,'” Joseph recalls.
Hearing her story, Joseph was moved to tears as he realized, “God, like you’ve told me, but I’ve just never believed that you truly like, love me and you want to have communion with me.”
This revelation transformed Joseph’s faith, allowing him to embrace God’s grace and freedom. “God shows me grace so that I continually want to get to know him better,” he reflects. Just 25 years old, Joseph says he has seen God’s faithfulness in his life and encourages others to trust that God will complete the good work He has started in them. “I’ve seen the faithfulness of God even in the little that I’ve lived.”
God’s love is not contingent upon our actions.
When you feel distant from God, remain confident it’s not the end of the journey. It’s an invitation to deepen your faith, trust in God’s unconditional love, and lean into His grace. As Joseph beautifully puts it, “God loved [me] just as much in that moment as He ever did and ever will.”
We hope Joseph’s story encourages you to press in harder during dry spells and embrace the unending grace that God offers.
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