Have you ever felt abandoned by God? In the midst of trials and hardships we can only wonder if God is really concerned and is He there for us in time of need. With my debilitating illness there have been times where I have felt loneliness and discouragement. During those times I have found that God’s Word is a source of great comfort as I am reminded of an eternal truth that brings me reassurance.
The author of Hebrews reminds us of one of those great truths as he states:”Never will I leave you, never will I forsake you.” (Heb. 13:5). This statement reminds us that we can never be abandoned by God. Our feelings may be flawed but reality is that God will never forsake us for a moment. On the other hand, Jesus was totally forsaken by God when He bore the sins of the world on His shoulders during His time on the cross. God, who is holy, cannot look upon sin, so He totally rejected Jesus while He was on the cross.
Jesus did experience total abandonment and knows what it is like to be rejected. Jesus is described as being our sympathetic Savior and does understand all the difficulties and problems that we face. He cares about us and we can cast our concerns upon Him (I Peter 5:7). It is so comforting to know that Jesus cares and understands our deepest needs. When we do feel abandonment we can go to our intercessor and mediator and know that He totally understands our feeling of loneliness and rejection because He was abandoned by His Father. Jesus knows our feelings even if they are illegitimate and wrong feelings.
I would have to admit that this has been the biggest challenge of my life as I have faced the loss of almost all my physical capabilities. My disease has progressed and I feel weaker all the time. I need to trust and be encouraged daily by God’s presence so I can cope with this debilitating disease. The truth of Jesus’ abandonment is that because He was forsaken by God the Father and went to the cross to give us life and a relationship to the eternal God we will never be abandoned by the Lord. What an important biblical truth that Jesus understands our feeling of abandonment because He was forsaken by God. He is truly our sympathetic Savior and understands our feelings even if they are wrong feelings.
I am thankful that I can express my feelings to my Lord and be honest with Him because He understands and cares.
Dan
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2 comments:
dan,
i have been following your blog and mandy has been keeping me posted on how you have been feeling. thanks for posting scriptures along with your thoughts and feelings...it is so clear that your trust is in our mighty God - and that He is meeting you face to face.
you and your family are in our prayers. we continue to trust God for your health, and, to bring you some physical comfort as well.
many thoughts and prayers,
ben & jaren
Pastor Dan,
I have been reading your blog. It is so inspiring. I have a friend that just introduced me to quiltters blogs. It is so nice and I am seeing the world through them and have met a couple Christian ladies. I am so glad that she did so that I can read your blog too. I am praying for you and Patty as you go through the health issues.
Thank you,
Praying for you,
Anne
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