"Feelings" about God

"We're moved by how we feel, so we're saved when we feel like it, so technically, we've never really been saved. We've merely tried it. So no wonder why we're never souled out when we return it after we buy it." - Ezekiel Azonwu (poet)

    I was at small group last night when one girl candidly asked our facilitator, "Do you feel close to God?" I immediately felt a passion stir inside of me because I think our closeness to God, His position to us, cannot be decided based on our "feelings".
    I've been sick the past few days, so my days have been filled with laying around watching movies, messing around on my computer, and other sorts of mindless activities. Outside of some bible reading, I was neglecting my relationship with God and serving my own desires. I was experiencing some convictions about this and wanted to repent in order to come close to God again. My prayer started off with a lot of "I feel distant...I feel... I think..." I caught all these "I" statements and had to chuckle at myself because it doesn't matter how I feel because there are truths that God declares of me and my relationship with Him. I allowed myself to finish my "feeling" statements but only after assuring myself that they would be followed up by God's Word and His truth. In John 14, Jesus is talking with His disciples about His looming betrayal and death. He then encourages them, saying that God will grant them the Holy Spirit: "he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever--the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you." Did you catch that? The Holy Spirit lives in me, dwells in me. This helper, advocate, encourager, counselor, comforter resides in my very being. With that truth, one might dare to say that we are forever close with God.
      "There are certain things that are true whether you know it or not. They are true whether you believe it or not. They are true whether you like it or not. They're true." (Frank Perreti, NY Times best selling author). I often reflect on this quote whenever I don't "feel" close to God because it allows me to blot out lies I may tell myself and rewrite them with truth. Romans 1:25 says, "They exchanged the truth about God for a lie..."How often do we do this in our lives? Rely on own own limited perception of things and start to form opinions about the God of the universe and his goodness or lack thereof in our lives. For me, it happens all too frequently.
     I suppose in all of this, I'm not saying that our feelings don't hold weight or should be cast aside. I am moreso stressing that things are not always as they appear. I think that God is always close to us, but there are many times that we do not acknowledge His presence. Maybe our lives are too busy or our worlds too loud. Whatever it is, God always whispers to us. Sometimes we just need to stop and listen.