Letting Go of God?
"Yet [the wicked] say to God, 'Leave us alone! We have no desire to know your ways. Who is the Almighty, that we should serve him? What would we gain by praying to him?'"-Job 21.14-15

A woman did a couple of shows at the Bing Crosby Theatre here in Spokane in March. Her show was called, "Letting Go of God." I would have gone to see it had I known about it in time. The Spokesman Review had an article about her professional life and how the show did in L.A. and New York, but not her reasons for no longer believing.
The spirit, like the flesh, has to have nourishment or it will die. Starve your spirit or feed it poison, and it will die. Jesus said the cares of this world and the false promises of money can choke out the word of God in our lives and kill us spiritually (Matthew 13.22). I also believe that persisting in sinful behavior kills us spiritually. We become sin-junkies. We have to have our fix no matter what.
Now I know what some of the things are that feed my unbelief, but I also know what can feed my belief. This isn't perfect, but I thought about my own journey.
As crazy as it sounds, wanting to believe feeds belief. I want to believe God is. I know Satan exists. I find comfort in believing that there is someone who outranks him, who keeps track of and loves us, and who will set everything right one day.
Another thing feeding my belief is learning whether my belief in God is justified. I may believe Bill Gates will eventually adopt me, but is that a justifiable belief? This investigation has to first deal with whether the Bible is trustworthy in what it says. There is a certain level of acceptance required even there. We may, and others have, examine the verifiable aspects of Scripture (the scientific, geographical, historical, social, economic, health, etc., statements) and find it to be completely accurate. There have been times when people doubted some historical situation the Bible mentioned (the Hittites' or King David's existence for example). Eventually, though, archaeologists discovered evidence that once again showed the Bible to be telling the truth.
If the Bible proves to be accurate about verifiable things, the next step is to decide whether it is trustworthy about unverifiable things like God, sin, salvation, Jesus, etc. The Bible was written by people who provide eye-witness testimony and spiritual explanations of what they saw and heard. If a person has proven himself trustworthy to you in every thing he's said, then you have to decide to continue believing in him when he tells you he saw an alien, flying saucer, ghost, etc. The Bible claims to have a certain view of the world and our lives here. There is a God, the world is terminally ill from sin, Jesus is God's cure for that illness. Living life his way keeps us "healthy". The Bible explains how the world works. Do you accept that world view as accurate? So far I have found the Bible to be accurate about this too, and that nourishes my spirit.
This is the point where what we believe meets what we do. This is where I begin to change, to be transformed into the image of Christ. People may intellectually accept the things discussed above, but if they don't incorporate those things into their lives, they really won't change. They really won't experience God. All the fighting in Northern Ireland would stop in a day if the people claiming to be Christians would act like Christians. That's why some who claim to be Christians act very unchristlike. God hasn't gotten into their hearts.
The things I have mentioned above have nourished my belief. What I have seen, heard, learned, and experienced in my life lines up with what the Bible says. I still have questions. I still have things I need to investigate further. But the preponderance of the evidence justifies my belief and that nourishes my spirit even when other people are letting go of God.