Have you ever felt "spiritually displaced?"

Maybe even "spiritually exiled" in some sense.

Those feelings can occur for many different reasons. Sometimes it is moving to a new place, a new job, a new church, or a new challenge in life. At other times, it may be due to changing relationships with people right where you are. Or it could be due to some spiritual dissonance that emerges in your heart and mind, related to new insights from the Word of God, conversations with a fellow believer, some revelation from God's Spirit within your heart, or some crisis that occurs in your life. Any one of these could trigger some feelings of being "spiritually displaced or exiled." You might feel alone, isolated and distant from God.
Sometimes, when people are moved to shop for other churches, these feelings develop. We feel something inside of us that just does not seem right, and we attribute these feelings to something outside of us - to our circumstances, to other people, to things that seem out of our control. While those reasons may be true at times, I think most often the causes of these kinds of feelings are internally rooted. We long for something to satisfy our deepest needs. We search for things that will fill that void. Sometimes it is wealth we seek. Sometimes it is power. Many people within our culture and our churches seek satisfaction of this need within recreation or even sexual encounters. Occasionally we seek a change in location. Often we try to fulfill our deepest need with relationships with others - family, friends, co-workers, etc. While GOD is a relational GOD and He wants us to love others and love ourselves in healthy ways, the central truth to a healthy, fullfilled life is in a deep Encounter with Him.
GOD will give us the desires of our heart! But those desires are the ones placed there by GOD Himself. The desire to know Him. The desire to be like Him. The desire to be His people. The desire to be in His Presence.
The prophet Micah said it this way in Micah 6:8 - "GOD has shown you what is good, and what the Lord requires of you (and what the desires of your heart should be): To act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your GOD." Micah is telling us that of all the encounters we may have in this life, none is as significant as, and none is as fulfilling as, our Encounter with GOD.
This week, when you sense those feelings of "spiritual displacement or exile," or when you feel some dissonance deep within your soul, before you reflexively move to satisfy that need with something external to your heart and soul, take a look within to examine your own personal Encounter with God. Those moments of "sacred discontent" can be life changing. And they can enrich the other areas of our lives - relationships with others, work environment, circumstantial aggravations, etc.

Encounter The Word

Read Hebrews 11 and give special attention and meditation to this verse: "All these people were still living by Faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised. They only saw them and welcomed them from a distance. And they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth" (Hebrews 11:13).

Some Encounter Questions

• When do you feel "spiritually displaced?" Why?
• In what ways is your life comfortable right now? How does that sense of ease affect your spiritual journey?
• When do you cling tightest to GOD? Why?
• How can challenges in your life benefit your relationship with GOD? Your relationship with others?
• What would "living by Faith" look like for you? Meditate and take notes on this thought.