In our journey of faith, sometimes it can feel like we've been side-lined or sin-binned from God; very spiritually cold or very distant from His presence. This was the case for David in Psalm 51. David had become spiritually lazy and he sinned greatly against the Lord. He knew that there was an issue but until the prophet Nathan came and confronted him, he wasn't prepared to deal with it, but, at that moment when he came to his senses, he realized what he had done. In Psalm 51, he writes a song of repentance to the Lord, asking God to forgive him but also to renew him, to put back inside him a clean heart, washing him whiter than snow, and also a steadfast spirit that he may have the power to follow God as he did once before, before he did the evil that he did. We can learn from this and also be encouraged that if we feel similar as though we have been grounded or side-lined by God, it's not out of a place of hatred towards us but God does this because He loves us. He doesn't want us to go on that way any longer. And so He uses spiritual distance to give us a moment to pause and come back to Him in humility with a contrite heart. I pray that this will be a blessing to you and that you too, if you are struggling or know of other Christians that are struggling, can tell them that God has not abandoned them, but it's they who have in a sense, abandoned Him and that they only need to call upon His name, ask for forgiveness, and walk again in righteousness and holiness before their God.