This is part of my year-long series exploring human-centered alternatives to the spiritual promises in Oswald Chambers’ classic devotional My Utmost for His Highest. Today’s entry, “This Experience Must Come,” promises that when believers’ spiritual mentors are removed, they must go “alone at your Jordan River” where God will prove Himself, claiming that at spiritual crisis points, believers who remain “true to what you learned” will receive signs that “God is with you” and experience “the beginning of God’s wisdom,” with God making “your life a sacrament” when they trust Him alone.
Here’s what trusting that God proves Himself when you face spiritual challenges alone actually delivered:
“When your Elijah is taken away, you must go to your Jordan alone,” Pastor Chen declared with spiritual intensity. “God will prove He is who you believe Him to be. At your Jericho and Bethel, remain true to what you learned. God will give you signs that He is with you. This will be the beginning of God’s wisdom—He will make your life a sacrament.”
David had been devastated when his longtime pastor and mentor died suddenly of a heart attack, leaving him feeling spiritually orphaned during a crisis in his marriage and career. The promise that facing this spiritual loneliness would result in God proving Himself and providing divine wisdom seemed like the hope he needed to navigate these challenges without human guidance.
David desperately wanted to believe that going through his crisis alone would activate God’s presence and wisdom in ways that dependence on human mentors had prevented. For months, he avoided seeking new spiritual guidance, marriage counseling, or career advisement, believing that this “Jordan” experience was designed to prove God’s faithfulness and provide divine signs of His presence. He practiced what he called “Elijah-less faith,” trying to put his mentor’s teachings to the test while waiting for God to demonstrate His wisdom and make David’s life a sacrament through solitary spiritual struggle.
Week after week, David spent hours in prayer seeking signs that God was with him during this isolating period, waiting for the divine wisdom that facing spiritual challenges alone was supposed to produce. He tried to remain true to his mentor’s teachings while trusting that God would prove Himself through this experience of spiritual solitude, avoiding practical steps toward marriage repair or career guidance because he believed human help would interfere with God’s plan to demonstrate His presence through David’s alone-ness. When concerned friends suggested grief counseling, marriage therapy, or career coaching, he declined, trusting that this was his divinely appointed Jordan where God would manifest His wisdom without human intervention.
But the promised divine presence through spiritual isolation was abandonment disguised as testing.
David’s desperate attempts to experience God’s proof of faithfulness produced no divine signs, no sense of God’s presence, no indication that spiritual isolation was leading to divine wisdom or sacramental living. Despite months of facing challenges alone and trying to remain true to his mentor’s teachings, no supernatural guidance emerged, no divine wisdom materialized, no sense that God was making his life a sacrament developed. The silence grew more crushing each day as his marriage deteriorated and career stagnated while he waited for the divine presence that facing spiritual challenges alone was supposed to activate.
Meanwhile, David’s neighbor Michael approached his own mentor loss through immediate community support replacement. When Michael’s longtime spiritual advisor moved away during his own family crisis, he quickly connected with new counselors, joined support groups, and focused entirely on building practical guidance networks rather than expecting divine intervention through isolation.
Michael’s approach came through grief counseling, marriage therapy, and career coaching. He navigated his crisis successfully through sustained human support rather than waiting for God to prove Himself through spiritual loneliness.
When David finally abandoned his search for divine signs and sought professional help, he discovered that major life transitions required understanding grief processes and building support networks. The months he’d spent expecting God to prove Himself had been months his marriage needed immediate intervention and his career required practical guidance.
Where was the divine proof that facing spiritual challenges alone was supposed to provide? Where was God’s wisdom that should emerge from trusting Him without human guidance during crisis?
The support that actually worked came from professional counselors and support groups. The silence where God was supposed to be proving Himself revealed the truth: there was no divine presence available through spiritual isolation, no God providing wisdom through alone-ness.
Only grief, marriage problems, and career uncertainty that required human understanding and professional guidance, not spiritual isolation seeking divine proof from an absent God whose supposed wisdom never emerged through solitary struggle.
Reflection Question: When has seeking professional counseling and community support been more effective than trusting that God proves Himself when you face spiritual challenges alone?
This story is part of my upcoming book “The Undevoted: Daily Departures from Divine Dependence,” which offers 365 human-centered alternatives to the spiritual certainties in Chambers’ devotional. Each day explores how reason, community, and human resilience can address life’s challenges without requiring divine intervention.
God or Delusion? 