When God Withdraws His Blessings
When God's blessings disappear and His presence seems absent, many believers panic and frantically seek restoration. But this dark night may be the very process God uses to birth us from dependence on anything other than Himself—the journey from loving His gifts to loving His face.
There comes a season in every maturing believer's journey when the God who once seemed so near becomes mysteriously absent, when prayers that once brought comfort yield only silence, and when the very blessings that sustained faith seem to evaporate like morning mist.
"By night on my bed I sought him whom my soul loveth: I sought him, but I found him not." - Song of Solomon 3:1
The bride in Solomon's song had grown accustomed to divine sweetness. His fruit delighted her taste, His banqueting house provided comfort, and His banner of love surrounded her with security. Yet suddenly, inexplicably, the Beloved withdrew. The night descended—not merely the absence of physical light, but the withdrawal of spiritual consciousness, the removal of every blessed experience that had previously sustained her faith.
The Divine Strategy of Withdrawal
What appears as abandonment often serves as the most profound act of divine love. When God withdraws His manifest presence, He is not punishing the soul nor indicating displeasure with one's spiritual progress. Rather, He employs a sacred strategy to transition the believer from spiritual infancy to maturity—from being fed by others to learning to receive directly from Heaven's throne.
Many souls remain perpetually dependent upon external sources for spiritual nourishment. They require pastors to sustain their faith, fellow believers to encourage their perseverance, and favorable circumstances to maintain their joy. Like infants who must be fed, carried, and comforted by others, such believers possess spiritual life but lack the capacity for independent spiritual function. They know salvation but have not yet experienced the birth that enables direct communion with the Lord.
The withdrawal of blessings serves as the labor pains of spiritual birth. Just as natural birth requires the child to leave the safety of the womb and learn to breathe independently, spiritual birth demands that believers transition from dependence upon others' spiritual experiences to direct relationship with God Himself.
The Frantic Search for Restoration
When divine withdrawal occurs, the natural response involves desperate attempts to restore former levels of blessing through familiar methods. The soul rushes to prayer meetings, consults spiritual leaders, returns to places where God previously manifested His presence, and employs every technique that once yielded spiritual fruit.
"I will rise now, and go about the city in the streets, and in the broad ways I will seek him whom my soul loveth: I sought him, but I found him not." - Song of Solomon 3:2
The bride's frantic search represents the common pattern of seeking God's face through external means rather than allowing the painful process of internal transformation to accomplish its divine purpose.
Such efforts, though sincere, often prove futile during seasons of divine withdrawal. The very activities that once brought comfort now yield emptiness. Fellow believers seem unable to provide helpful counsel. Even mature spiritual leaders appear strangely unable to assist in relocating the missing sense of God's presence. This frustration serves a divine purpose—to exhaust every external resource until the soul learns to wait upon God directly.
The Birth of Spiritual Perception
Through the darkness of divine withdrawal, something profound awakens within the believer's spirit. Just as physical senses enable contact with the natural world, spiritual senses—long dormant since humanity's fall—begin to stir and sensitize. These inner faculties of sight, hearing, taste, touch, and smell gradually awaken to perceive spiritual realities previously unknown.
This awakening rarely announces itself dramatically. Like natural growth, spiritual perception develops imperceptibly, through consistent positioning before God during seasons when no immediate response seems forthcoming. The believer discovers, often through others' recognition, that divine understanding has been quietly imparted during seemingly fruitless times of waiting.
One finds that knowledge and understanding have somehow been received without conscious awareness of the transmission. Truth settles into the spirit not through emotional experiences or dramatic revelations, but through the gradual quickening of inner spiritual faculties that can directly perceive the Lord's voice.
The Discovery of Authentic Relationship
The dark night ultimately serves to distinguish between loving God's gifts and loving God Himself. When every blessing, every comfortable spiritual experience, and every familiar manifestation of divine presence disappears, what remains reveals the true object of the soul's affection.
Those who endure the withdrawal without abandoning their pursuit discover something far more precious than restored blessings—they find the Beloved Himself.
"It was but a little that I passed from them, but I found him whom my soul loveth: I held him, and would not let him go." - Song of Solomon 3:4
The brief passage beyond all external helps leads to direct encounter with the Divine Person, Jesus Christ, rather than merely His gifts.
This transition marks the difference between spiritual infancy and maturity. The mature believer no longer requires constant encouragement from others to maintain faith, no longer depends upon favorable circumstances to experience joy, and no longer needs dramatic spiritual experiences to confirm God's presence. Direct spiritual perception enables ongoing communion with the Lord regardless of external conditions.
Embracing the Sacred Darkness
When the familiar comforts of faith disappear and the very foundations of spiritual experience seem to crumble, the wise soul recognizes divine invitation disguised as apparent abandonment. The dark night of withdrawal serves as the womb of spiritual birth, painful but necessary for the development of authentic relationship the Lord.
Rather than frantically seeking restoration of former blessings, such seasons call for patient endurance and continued positioning before God. The withdrawal is temporary, designed not to destroy but to develop, not to abandon but to advance the soul into realms of spiritual maturity previously impossible to attain.
Those who embrace the darkness discover that God's apparent absence often conceals His most intimate presence, working silently to birth within them the capacity for direct spiritual communion that transforms every subsequent experience of divine relationship with God.
