In 2025 I experienced my first faith failure in God. I thought he told me who my husband was, but when the promise never materialized I fell into a deep depression. The anger and bitterness I felt from not seeing God move in that area caused me to believe that maybe he wasn’t as good as he says he is. Eventually I started feeling totally separated from God. To the point where it was like I was out in space, floating with no protection, or guidelines to lead me back to the ship.
At first it seemed like the separation came out of nowhere. But once the depression lifted and I was able to think clear again – I realized exactly where the descent started.
This post is to bring your attention to the things you may be doing in your waiting season that are making you feel separated from God. I will be listing each thing in the order that it happened to me.
Why You Feel Separated From God Right Now
1.) Desires
21 “for where your treasure is, there your heart [your wishes, your desires; that on which your life centers] will be also.” – Matthew 6:21 (AMP)
God Wants To Be First In Our Lives
In Matthew 6: 19-34, Jesus tells us to not lay up treasures for ourselves on earth, but to instead lay up treasures for ourselves in heaven. The treasures on earth will eventually be destroyed or stolen from us (in other words, are temporary). But the treasures in heaven will never be destroyed or stolen. Jesus further tells us not to worry about the things we need on earth, because our Father in heaven knows we need them and will supply them for us.
One of the most quoted scriptures comes from this particular teaching: “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” Matthew 6:33.
What this tells us is that God should be the center of our lives. He is the one we live for and live by. Our greatest concern should be having a right relationship with him, resisting sin; and loving him, ourselves, and the people around us. Through being a genuine and faithful servant to God we are storing up treasures in heaven and will reap the rewards once judgment day comes (1 Corinthians 3: 11-15).
Desires Can Lead To Separation From God When They Become First In Your Life
It is by no means wrong to have desires. Some desires are even placed in your heart by God. The way I can tell a desire is from God is 1) It’s something that aligns with his word and 2) It’s something that’s been with you for very long and you can’t pray it away.
Now think about the thing you desire most from God. How do you feel about it not being fulfilled yet? Do you get a twinge of jealously whenever someone else receives it? Does not having it make it harder to seek God?
These are important questions to ask yourself. Because once an unanswered prayer begins to negatively affect your spiritual walk, it’s a sign that your desire has become first in your life. It’s now an idol to you and it will open up the door for the devil to slink in and slowly begin to pull you away from God. Because the devil also knows how bad you want it, and he will press hard on the fact that God hasn’t given it to you yet.
The devil will use our unanswered prayers to get us to sin against God through:
- Our actions: Turning back to what we once found comfort in (food, sex, alcohol, etc).
- Our disobedience: Ignoring what God told us to do because now the faith walk feels extra hard and unrewarding.
- Our rejection of God: Cursing God, feeling like he isn’t good, no longer praying or going to church.
When we push God away, we stop being able to feel his presence and our prayers will become hindered (Isaiah 59:1-2).
How Can You Tell A Desire Has Become An Idol?
Merriam-Webster dictionary defines an Idol as “An object of extreme devotion”. Here are just a few examples of how this looks when your desire has reached this level:
- You want it more than you want God.
- Having it dictates your mood (you’re happy, praising God more than usual, nice to everyone).
- NOT having it dictates your mood (you’re depressed, you don’t want to praise God, you’re irritable).
- It’s the only thing you pray about.
- It plagues your mind.
- You consider alternative ways to get it (witchcraft, theft, anything that’s outside of God’s will).
A quote I heard from Pastor Stephanie Ike Okafor comes to mind: “God wont help you get what you idolize“. Idols are detestable to the Lord (Deuteronomy 7:25) and we can’t expect to receive something that is out of his will.
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2.) Delays
“There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens.” Ecclesiastes 3:1
We obviously want God to fulfill our desires immediately. With just a snap of his fingers. Our imaginations go wild with thoughts of what it would look like for us to have it. We feel so ready for it physically and spiritually. We may even think we deserve to have it because of how faithful we’ve been to God.
But naturally, when God gives a promise, a waiting season comes with it: Abraham waited 25 years for his son Isaac. Hannah waited many years for a son. Enough years that her sister wife, Peninnah was able to have multiple sons and daughters. Then Jesus waited 30 years before he could even begin his work on earth. Though he knew the whole time what his purpose was (Luke 2: 41 – 52).
We perceive that we are being delayed because the promise isn’t coming on OUR timeline. But the Bible says there is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens (Ecclesiastes 3:1).
Delays Can Lead To Separation From God When We Become Impatient
When you’ve been waiting a LONG time for God to answer your prayer. It begins to feel like God is withholding something good from you. Something that would make your life better.
We forget that God can only give good and perfect gifts (James 1:17) and that he KNOWS how to give us those good gifts (Matthew 7: 9 -11). So if we haven’t received a thing, that means it isn’t good for us at all or it isn’t good for us yet.
On the other hand, when you’ve actually receive a PROMISE from God that he will give you the thing. It begins to feel SO close that it’s like God is dangling it in front of your face. Then snatching it as soon as you reach out to grab it. Every day creeps to the end because you keep waking up thinking that maybe today will be the day. But then nothing at all happens.
Impatience will tempt us to accept the counterfeit of what God has for us:
- Grab at the first opportunity that looks like it could be God.
- Settle for something we know is less because we don’t want to wait anymore.
Only thieves make counterfeits and a thief comes to steal, kill, and destroy (John 10:10). If our impatience becomes so great that we’re willing to accept whatever, the devil will certainly make sure to present something that looks good to us. And the purpose of it will be to steal, kill, and destroy us and our faith in God.
3.) Desperation
8 “He waited seven days, the time set by Samuel; but Samuel did not come to Gilgal, and Saul’s men began to scatter. 9 So he said, “Bring me the burnt offering and the fellowship offerings.” And Saul offered up the burnt offering. 10 Just as he finished making the offering, Samuel arrived, and Saul went out to greet him. 11 “What have you done?” asked Samuel. Saul replied, “When I saw that the men were scattering, and that you did not come at the set time, and that the Philistines were assembling at Mikmash, 12 I thought, ‘Now the Philistines will come down against me at Gilgal, and I have not sought the LORD’s favor.’ So I felt compelled to offer the burnt offering.”“ – 1 Samuel 13: 8 – 12
We have all gone through a season in life where God is silent. We cry out, we fast, we read the Bible, we go to church. But everything looks the same. Our desire still feels unmet. And we don’t know where else to turn.
This is when desperation creeps in. We want relief from our situation, to be comforted, and to be heard. But all we’re left with is feelings of hurt, abandonment, and hopelessness.
Desperation Can Lead Separation From God When We Intentionally Choose Something That Isn’t Him
Just as Saul became desperate when Samuel didn’t show up at the set time, thoughts of what we can do to relieve our anxiety or sadness starts racing through our heads. But when we step out of Gods will and stay there, we’re setting ourselves up for disaster.
Eventually Saul’s repeated disobedience and desperate actions led to God taking away his Spirit from Saul (1 Samuel 16:14) and giving his kingship to David.
Intentionally choosing something other than God looks like:
- Moving ahead of God to try to make things happen on our own.
- Seeking alternatives to fill our needs (drugs, sex, stealing, etc).
- Going to someone besides God to try to fulfill our desire (fortune tellers, witchcraft, new age religion, etc).
Doing any of these things mean you have stepped out of God’s will. And it’s a sign that you have stopped trusting him. Continuing in these things will only push God further away.
4) Disappointment
12 “Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life.” – Proverbs 13:12
So what happens after the fulfillment of a desire is delayed and you become desperate for a move of God, but still nothing happens? Extreme disappointment.
This is when real hopelessness takes root in your heart. It’s when you become the most vulnerable to the devils attacks. When his whispers become louder and you begin to believe them. It’s almost like you accept that God is never going to answer your prayer. You may even stop praying for it because you no longer see the use in doing so.
Just as the scripture says hope deferred makes the heart sick – you may even begin to experience symptoms of real sickness:
- Your body feels weak and sore.
- You lay in bed all day.
- You don’t want to go out.
- You have mental fog.
- You don’t have the energy to pray.
For me personally, once I was good and weak from the marriage promise not being fulfilled, the devil even begin to attack my actual health. I got an reoccurring ear infection that lasted months. I had the flu during the first couple of weeks of 2026 (which was way worse than when I caught Covid). Then I had a random severe allergic reaction that kept flaring up for about a week. I felt like this all was a spiritual attack to keep me separated from God and to keep me disappointed in him. Because I’ve never been extremely sick before, especially not back to back. And I didn’t find out what caused the allergic reaction because I tested negative for the possible allergens I came in contact with.
Disappointment Can Lead To Separation From God When The Devil Uses It To Wear Us Out
As I said, the devil will attack you when you’re most vulnerable. He’ll highlight your disappointment by whispering lies like, “I knew God wouldn’t do it for you“, “They’re better than you. That’s why God gave them the blessing you want“, “God sees you hurting but still hasn’t answered. He doesn’t care about you.“.
Once we’re worn out, we may:
- Give God the silent treatment.
- Scoff when people praise him.
- Harbor resentment for those who received the blessing we want.
- Be too sick to our stomachs to read the Bible.
- Become stubborn and resistant to godly encouragement, our walk of faith, and God’s previous instruction to us.
This is no way to treat someone who say you love. Just as these actions would cause someone to stop talking to us or stop being our friend. It also pushes God away because he won’t force you to do anything or be anywhere you don’t want to be. But he does wait patiently for us to come back and he will forgive our rebellion if we repent. (Daniel 9:9 and Exodus 34: 6-7). Just don’t wait until it’s too late.
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5.) Diversions
33 “Do not be misled: “Bad company corrupts good character.” 34 Come back to your senses as you ought, and stop sinning; for there are some who are ignorant of God – I say this to your shame.” – 1 Corinthians 15: 33-34
The definition of Diversion is “A turning aside (of your course or attention or concern).”
Diversions can come at any time during our walk with God. It can come in the form of social media, friends, a relationship, or even a traumatic event. The devil will use anything and anybody he can get his hands on, to get you off track with God and to steal your faith.
You become more susceptible to diversions when you’re disappointed that God hasn’t moved in a certain area of your life yet.
But if you’re still hanging on by a thread… Standing on the cliff ready to jump and give up on your walk with God. The devil will give you that final nudge to push you over the edge.
The Devil Will Send Diversions To Cause Separation From God
When I was at that edge, I was replaying my entire Christian walk and questioning if I was truly a Christian or not. I occasionally would have thoughts that I was chasing God but he was running from me because he didn’t like me. My efforts to be a good Christian felt futile. I thought maybe I didn’t believe at all.
Then a couple of men I had been chatting with randomly told me that they didn’t think I was a real Christian. One mentioned my flirtatiousness and the type of music I used to listen to. While the other, who was the inspiration for 5 Things That Make Holding Conversations Difficult, mentioned how I do “extreme religious things with no real change or big event after“.
They pointed out what I struggle with and “confirmed” that I wasn’t good enough to be a Christian. Paired with my weakened state and both comments happening within a few days of each other – I decided that they were right and that I would just stop being a Christian all together.
From that point on, I stopped praying, I stopped trying to resist sin (I gained 20 pounds and went back to having sex), and completely gave up all hope. Including most of my belief that God exists.
Diversions Can Come In The Form Of:
- Exes coming back into your life.
- Friends convincing you to do the things you used to do.
- Comments from people “confirming” your negative thoughts about God and yourself.
- Heavier workload at work.
- Sleepiness/exhaustion.
- Church drama.
- Sickness.
All of these things will distract you from your walk with God. Or encourage you to leave him completely.
Final Thoughts
If you’re experiencing separation from God right now, hopefully this post highlighted some things that you need to work on changing. I will make a separate post on everything I’m doing to fully restore my relationship with God. But I want to complete the transformation God is bringing me through before sharing what all I’ve learned.
Until then, know that no effort to return to God is too small. Even just reading one scripture a day is enough when you’re restarting in your brokenness. And if you can’t pray, just tell God how you feel. Write your feelings to him. He knows already, so be honest.
Finally, remember that NOTHING can separate you from his love (Romans 8:38-39). He is waiting patiently for you to come back to him. But he wont force you. You have to make the first move.
If you’ve ever felt separated from God during your waiting season, at which point did that separation come?
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