Psalm 38:21 (NLT) Do not abandon me, O Lord. Do not stand at a distance, my God.

Our middle grandson, Elijah who is a year and a half old, is going through a phase of separation anxiety at night with his father. When his father puts him down in his bed, he begins to cry and to get anxious when his dad begins to leave the room. Many times, dad has had to stay with him until he falls asleep. He doesn’t stay every time because then Elijah would never grow out of that phase. We teach our children to grow and mature and that includes teaching them to eventually become independent so that they can learn to take care of themselves. But when it comes to our relationship with God, the opposite is what needs to happen.

We, as human beings, have the reverse problem that Elijah is experiencing right now when it comes to separation anxiety regarding our Heavenly Father. Before we were awakened to our need of God, we not only didn’t suffer from separation anxiety with Him, but we weren’t even thinking about Him. Then, when we had our salvation experience by receiving Jesus as our Lord and Savior, we had to learn to depend on Him. In the beginning, many believers continue to rely on themselves, making their own decisions and seeking to be with the Lord Jesus sporadically. But as we continue to live life and God begins to teach us through life’s experiences how much we need Him, we learn to depend upon Him more and more. The more we depend on Him, the more we want to be with Him. We learn to “pray continually” and to meditate on His Word after we have had our time of being in His Word. Our desire for Jesus grows more and more until we develop separation anxiety if we don’t sense His presence. It’s actually separation anxiety without the anxiety. It’s just a deep longing to be with Him at all times. That’s when separation anxiety is a good thing!

When you reach this kind of intimacy with God, you look back on your life and remember when you didn’t crave being with the Lord that much and you shake your head, wondering what you were thinking. With Jesus being who He is, a loving, compassionate God full of mercy and grace, why wouldn’t we want to be with Him at all times? The psalmist puts it this way in Psalm 42, verse 1: “As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, my God.” The wonderful thing about separation anxiety with God is that we don’t have to have it because He never leaves us or forsakes us (Hebrews 13:5) and Jesus said that He would be with us always (Matthew 28:20). Develop separation anxiety without the anxiety for your Lord and Savior because it will keep you close to Jesus at all times!

Pastor Joey Vazquez