When God Isn't There: Why God Is Farther than You Think but Closer than You Dare Imagine

Why does God feel so far away? Why is my worship so empty? Has God left me?

David Bowden knows these questions firsthand, having wrestled for years with God’s apparent absence and studying what the Bible says about it. In this new book, Bowden tackles the subject head-on, finding the key to understanding it in the Bible’s depiction of a God who is infinitely far from us, free to move where he wants, but who chooses to come near in the person of Jesus.

A resource of encouragement for those who struggle with feeling God’s absence and a wake-up call to those who take God’s presence for granted, When God Isn’t There will forever change your understanding of why God sometimes seems to vanish and how he can be found again.

Praise for the work of When God Isn't There:

“A must-read for anyone who’s felt far from God.”
—Bobby Gruenewald, LifeChurch Innovation Leader and a founder of YouVersion

“A masterful treatment of what it means to suffer the pain of God’s apparent absence and the inexpressible joy of feeling his presence.”
—Sam Storms, lead pastor for Teaching and Vision, Bridgeway Church

“David wrestles with theological concepts in a down-to-earth way. . . . Many will benefit from this very helpful book.”
—Kyle Idleman, bestselling author of Not a Fan

David Bowden is the cofounder and executive director of Spoken Gospel, a nonprofit dedicated to creating free resources that help people encounter Jesus in all of Scripture. He is a spoken word poet and the author of When God Isn’t There and Rewire Your Heart. David lives in Oklahoma City, where he and his wife, Meagan, are raising two boys, Ezra and Eli.