Why should God's presence be of value to me when it does nothing?

Don’t you feel like talking to Him, like figuring it out. You can’t expect God to free you from life. It’s there to teach you and strengthen you. Sounds like you want to feel better. Try joy in trials and pleasure in afflictions Like Paul. Not an escape. If you want away out of the temptation, take those thoughts captive. You need Gods comfort because he is trying you for heaven. Life is not a bowl of cherries. If you want heaven then you will work for it.

but if you are mentally ill and think it’s too hard, then only God or a reprobate mind is going to get you through it. I know it’s terribly hard but if you make God your enemy…

what’s the purpose of comfort. To keep you strong. He understands but this life is part of his plan. Try asking God yes or no questions and follow your peace.

Your writings caught my attention because I am undergoing the same sufferings, and have the same confusion as you. No man has cared for my soul or understood me in any of this; but let us not lose hope in the Lord during these calamities. I am convinced @Questioning Brother that our Lord is just in all his ways. That weeping may endure for a night but joy in the morning. That there is an end, and our expectation will not be cut off.

You be strong in Jesus Christ.

Brother what you are saying is crazy, God presence nurtures us, it means your soul is right with Him, and is going to heaven,
There is nothing more precious, because it accompany us, you could be in a very dangerous situation and God presence calms you,
It means the almighty himself is with you and also his promises, and a lot more.
If you don't appreciate God presence maybe is not his presence you are feeling? i don't know because is the most precious thing in life.

Questioning Brother said:

I can sense God is near, and has been near me through the problems. That is the problem he has stood by and, at the very least, let the problems happen. I honestly think ALL counseling does is try to make you feel better. It does nothing to actually help. I can feel His presence, but it is in no way any kind of help. Comforting is 100% not help. I don't want to feel better about going through something. I want the situation to actually improve. I prayed and begged for Him to provide actual help, and He chose absolutely useless comforting instead. So why should I desire his presence, since it does nothing to change the situation?

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Brother if you speak like that be careful, because instead of help, you can get a rejection.
The only time in my life, God was not sweet with me, and i felt he was rejecting me, was when i was complaining a lot.
So maybe you are not getting help, because you are complaining, because God is good and want good for us.
I suggest you swallow all that bitterness and stop complaining and ask for fogiveness, i had to do it sometimes.

Romans 8:18
18 I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.

Psalms 34:19
The righteous person may have many troubles, but the LORD delivers him from them all;

John 16:33
33 I have told you this, so that you might have peace in your hearts because of me. While you are in the world, you will have to suffer. But cheer up! I have defeated the world.

1 Peter 4:12

Suffering as a Follower of Christ​

12 My friends, don’t be surprised at the painful things that you are now suffering, which are testing your faith. Don’t think that something strange is happening to you. 13 But you should be happy that you are sharing in Christ’s sufferings. You will be happy and full of joy when Christ shows his glory. 14 When people say bad things to you because you follow Christ, consider it a blessing. When that happens, it shows that God’s Spirit, the Spirit of glory, is with you.

Questioning Brother said:

I am not sure you actually read the post. Comforting is nothing. I don't care about feeling better about the problems. I want ACTUAL help, not comforting (which is in no way helpful).

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what do you want help with? Gods people who know the Bible can possibly help you. You can’t always get what you want. And God knows what is best. Im not sure he calls us to manipulate circumstances. But we pray and we try our hardest, with that guidance and we win or lose and we try again and again or we stop…whatever is prudent or wise. Ask God for wisdom, He gives it freely without putting us down. And we have to step out with that knowledge or take a leap of faith and we learn and live and grow. I wait for God to talk to me sometimes but usually I hear the mind of Christ if it’s good or my mind chattering if it’s not. A court case you would learn the law.

counsel with lawyers. On a relationship God might be silent, but people have experiences to relate if e knew what’s bothering you. Counseling to me is just talking it out to seek understanding. The decisions are yours if hey are righteous.

The question is, what do you want out of Gods presence. Do you want a relationship with him, or do you want him as a wishing well? What perspective do you have towards god, that makes you think his presence is worthless/not valuable? He wants a relationship with us. He is our Father, not our Genie/employer

Therefore, in order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. 8 Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. 9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. 10 That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong. 2 Corinthians 12:7-10

So why should I desire his presence, since it does nothing to change the situation?

The feeling of closeness to God has value, but is not tangible. The closer we draw ourselves to God, should not be the stirring up of a feeling, but the result of growing in Christ-likeness. This is maturity and as a result, we are able to have more grace. This results in wisdom, discernment, and faith which have great tangible benefits.

One might consider closeness to God to be an effect, a result of our maturity, not something we try to achieve for its own sake.

timf said:

So why should I desire his presence, since it does nothing to change the situation?

The feeling of closeness to God has value, but is not tangible. The closer we draw ourselves to God, should not be the stirring up of a feeling, but the result of growing in Christ-likeness. This is maturity and as a result, we are able to have more grace. This results in wisdom, discernment, and faith which have great tangible benefits.

One might consider closeness to God to be an effect, a result of our maturity, not something we try to achieve for its own sake.

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Well, i disagree, God presence is tangible, when you go to a church with people filled with the Holy spirit,
His presence can be so strong, that the Holy spirit seems to fill the room. And even people faces changes, something celestial and fresh about them.
His presence also accompanies us all the time, unless we start sinning or something his presence stays.

Questioning Brother said:

I don't want to feel better about going through something. I want the situation to actually improve. I prayed and begged for Him to provide actual help, and He chose absolutely useless comforting instead. So why should I desire his presence, since it does nothing to change the situation?

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I hear you on this. I have a thing going on, for a very, very long time, and I need, I mean need the situation to change, not just to find a perspective where I feel okay about it.

The thing about His prescence is that you have that regardless of desire for it, He is there. You can tell Him that you are not getting much out of comfort, you can talk to Him about Bible verses that are not apparently working for you. You can ask questions in prayer, and share absolutely any feeling or thought, just do not resist confessing to those that are not submission to His love and His will. As long as we do not start telling Him what to do as if our own will is or should be His, we can ask about ourselves and our lives.

Feel free to post more about your frustration if I have misunderstood you entirely. Or ignore me if that is easier. Sorry if I only made it all worse either way.

Questioning Brother said:

I can sense God is near, and has been near me through the problems. That is the problem he has stood by and, at the very least, let the problems happen. I honestly think ALL counseling does is try to make you feel better. It does nothing to actually help. I can feel His presence, but it is in no way any kind of help. Comforting is 100% not help. I don't want to feel better about going through something. I want the situation to actually improve. I prayed and begged for Him to provide actual help, and He chose absolutely useless comforting instead. So why should I desire his presence, since it does nothing to change the situation?

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There is a book called "The Hiding Place" by a Dutch author by the name of Corrie ten Boom. She talks about being a Christian in Holland and helping Jews escape Nazi torture and death using her father's watch-repair shop, watch making, as a front. Eventually the Nazi's catch her and her entire family as well as some friends and imprison them all. Her father dies in prison within 2 months.

2 Cor 11 Paul says this of his own persecutors/tormentors
22 Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they the seed of Abraham? So am I. 23 Are they ministers of Christ?—I speak as a fool—I am more: in labors more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequently, in deaths often. 24 From the Jews five times I received forty stripes minus one. 25 Three times I was beaten with rods; once I was stoned; three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I have been in the deep; 26 in journeys often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils of my own countrymen, in perils of the Gentiles, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; 27 in weariness and toil, in sleeplessness often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness— 28 besides the other things, what comes upon me daily: my deep concern for all the churches. 29 Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is made to stumble, and I do not burn with indignation?
30 If I must boast, I will boast in the things which concern my infirmity. 31 The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who is blessed forever, knows that I am not lying. 32 In Damascus the governor, under Aretas the king, was guarding the city of the Damascenes with a garrison, desiring to arrest me; 33 but I was let down in a basket through a window in the wall, and escaped from his hands.

Jesus said "in this world you will face tribulation" John 16:33
"In this world you will have tribulation [trouble, pressure, suffering], but take heart; I have overcome the world".

Jesus Himself was beaten , tortured and crucified. Jesus said if they treat Me this way, except poor treatment will be given (in this system where Satan is called "the god of this world" 2 Cor 4:4) in Paul's letter written to those who follow Christ.

For a few years of poor treatment the saints receive billions upon billions of years of life in heaven exploring, in fellowship with Christ, no sorrow no suffering , joy unspeakable, eternal life.

Questioning Brother said:

I wanted someone who would actually help and actually had the power to do so. He doesn’t help, he comforts. I NEVER was asking my for comforting. Comforting from someone with the power to actually do something about the problem is worse than doing nothing. It is a statement of “I care about you, but not enough to ACTUALLY help you.”

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As a three year old I was run over on the street by a drunk driver , sent to the hospital in a coma, and my parents told that I would not live. When I woke up I was paralyzed on one side of my body and parents were told the brain damage suffered was too much to survive. My father ,who was himself a doctor in the Air Force, eventually came to the point of asking that I be released from the hospital so I could die at home.

A lot of prayer by church friends and family members , going on that whole time.

Later in life I became a software engineer, am now a senior citizen, and I leg press 840 lbs at the gym.

God answers prayer my friend

The greatest pain I have from all that today is talking to my older sister (10 and 1/2 months older than me) who witnessed the whole thing and talked about how at the age of 4 she watched the car come up behind me, knew it would take me out, could not bear to watch and turned her head away at the last second so she would not see me get hit. I feel bad for those who have to see someone else get hurt.

I was hopeless and helpless in my life. Wishing for death, and even wanting to commit suicide. What stopped me was my own fear of doing the act itself. i was in a deep dark place in my life. just a empty shell of myself. just lying in bed refusing to take care of myself or do anything to better myself. over time, Jesus/God did not abandon me to my own despair. he lead me out of it, and now i have this precious outlook on life. When i think of what God has brought me through and how he has healed me emotionally and my self-esteem, and how i see the world now. It brings tears to my eyes. tears of gratefullness, tears of joy. my soul and heart sings songs of praise to lord deep inside because of how I was rescuied and brought me out of my Dark period of my life when i was Carried.

Questioning Brother said:

I wanted someone who would actually help and actually had the power to do so. He doesn’t help, he comforts. I NEVER was asking my for comforting. Comforting from someone with the power to actually do something about the problem is worse than doing nothing. It is a statement of “I care about you, but not enough to ACTUALLY help you.”

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If you read the bible, and listen to pastors, you learn that the worse you can do for God not listening to you, is complaining, is one of the first things christian brothers who had relationships with God would tell you, so if you don't wish to keep hitting the wall against God you need to stop complaining, you know why the israelites couldn't go through the desert? because complaining and murmuring so be careful i would suggest.

BobRyan said:

The greatest pain I have from all that today is talking to my older sister (10 and 1/2 months older than me) who witnessed the whole thing and talked about how at the age of 4 she watched the car come up behind me, knew it would take me out, could not bear to watch and turned her head away at the last second so she would not see me get hit. I feel bad for those who have to see someone else get hurt.

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Yes, very, very serious for your sister that one.