When God Ghosted Me

Discussion Questions 

1. Read Psalm 13. (You can find the psalm here.) Then read the devotional below, “When God Ghosted Me,” and use these questions to start a conversation—with others or within yourself.  

2. When have you experienced a season of God’s silence? How did you make sense of the silence? 

3. When have you experienced a spiritual disconnect with God, a time when God felt absent?  

4. How is our longing for God part of our faith in God? 

Devotional 

How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? – Psalm 13:1 (NRSV) 

A few years ago, I went through a season when God stopped showing up. Or at least, that’s how it felt. 

I used to sense God’s nearness everywhere: in worship that made me cry, in the way a sunrise could feel like a conversation, in a coincidence that arrived just when I needed it. Then one day, the signal cut out. 

So I tried some new practices: lighting candles, praying the Psalms, walking a labyrinth. Nothing. No warmth, no whisper, only static. It felt rude, honestly. Like being ghosted by the Creator. 

For months, that quiet felt almost embarrassing. Pastors aren’t supposed to lose track of God. The worship songs that once stirred my heart fell flat. Scripture blurred. Even talking with Christ-following friends made the silence more noticeable. I kept waiting for the intimacy I had known to return: the goosebumps, the peace, the feeling God was speaking to me. I tried to avoid the hard question buzzing beneath the surface: What if my sense of God’s presence never returns?  

Then a mentor gently reassured me, “Maybe God’s silence isn’t absence. Maybe it’s an invitation.” 

So I kept praying, even when the conversation felt one-sided. And somewhere in the midst of long, ordinary days—dishes, commutes, services, bedtime stories—I began to realize that the silence I had resented wasn’t empty. It was companionable. Yes, my experience of God had changed, but God had not withdrawn. I was still held. Maybe God hadn’t ghosted me after all? Maybe God’s faithfulness is bigger than my ability to sense it.  

Psalm 13 doesn’t resolve the real tension. How long, O Lord? remains a faithful prayer. However, maybe faith, sometimes, is not about clarity or confidence, but daring to trust that God is in the silence too.  

Prayer
God of the quiet, when your voice goes still, keep me near enough to notice you breathing beside me. Let the silence be a kind of communion until I can hear you again. Amen.