God Comes Where He's Wanted: Discovering New Hope When Your Prayers Feel Like They're Going NowhereSample

I didn’t see this insight coming, but it’s undeniable. As a pastor, I've noticed a pattern for nearly two decades - people felt closest to God during their most challenging moments.

King David wrote one of the most passionate declarations of love for God from an unexpected place—the wilderness. Psalm 63 begins with the heading, "A Psalm of David when he was in the wilderness of Judah." The context is heartbreaking. One of David's sons led a coup against him, forcing David to flee Jerusalem to protect his life.

David writes from this place of pain, "God, you are my God. I eagerly seek you. I thirst for you and my body faints for you. In a land that is dry and desolate and without water." Notice that David's most profound expression of hunger for God didn't come from his throne room but from the desert.

The most powerful line in this psalm stopped me in my tracks: "Your faithful love is better than life." As I prepared to preach this passage, I had to ask myself an uncomfortable question: "Scott, do you believe that? Is God's love truly better than life itself?"

I think I'm hungry for God's presence, but honestly, I'm not sure I always fully believe those words. There have been seasons when I could say them with complete conviction, usually during adversity.

Adversity comes to all of us in different forms.

• A health crisis
• A struggling marriage
• A financial hardship
• The grief of losing someone we love

During these seasons, our hunger for God often grows. We pray more passionately, are more desperate for Him, and depend more on Him. We genuinely believe His love is better than life because we know His love is the only way through our pain.

Then, the diagnosis turns positive. The marriage strengthens, financial stability returns, and we emerge from the fog of grief. Our prayers begin to change, and our hunger diminishes. We still love God, but that desperate thirst? It's not quite the same.

This thought may sound ridiculous, but adversity can be an unexpected gift. No, we don't want bankruptcy. We don't want to sit in a marriage counselor's office with our relationship hanging by a thread. We don't want to receive difficult news from a doctor. We don't want to plan funerals. But how many of us would admit that these were the times we felt closest to God?

Here's the challenge: Can we maintain our hunger for God during the good times? Or does it require hardship to drive us to our knees? If you're in adversity right now, allow it to awaken your hunger for God. And if you're in a season of success - beware! Guard against allowing your appetite to be satisfied by anything other than God. Don't let success dull your desire for His presence.

Tomorrow, I'll share a powerful truth about prayer that Jesus taught—one that completely changed how I approach God when I'm hungry for His presence. I pray it helps you sustain your hunger for God in good times and bad.