GOD Has Forsaken Me

“You will seek Me and find Me when you seek Me with all your heart.” – Jeremiah 29:13

When we come up against injustice and difficulties, we tend to think, “God has forsaken me.” 

The problem is that when we think of God as our ever-loving Father, we tend to think that means God should give us everything we wish for – especially physical comforts – and that God shouldn’t require anything of us.  But we should stop and think before asking, “Has God abandoned me?” It isn’t God who’s abandoned us but we who’ve abandoned and forgotten God.

Rather than saying, “The Lord has abandoned me!”, maybe it’s time to turn back to God and experience His restoration and fellowship.  When we live within God’s will and love, it’s possible to celebrate life again.”   

LET IT SHOW…….

When you care enough to openly rebuke someone, you show that you really love the person you are addressing.  That person, and perhaps others as well, will actually see that love.  It is not hidden.  Remember this when training your children.  Think of it with regard to your spouse.  Do not forget it when you interact with friends and acquaintances.  "Love must be sincere," Paul writes in Romans 12:9.  When it is it cannot be hidden.  Better is open rebuke than hidden love (Proverbs 27:5)

HOW VALUABLE ARE WE?

“For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost.” – Luke 19:10

Much of what Jesus said when He taught the multitude was about how valuable individuals are, including those considered to be worthless in the eyes of the society.  Luke, the Greek physician from Syria, records three of these talks in his Gospel.

There were 100 sheep; one was lost.  There were 10 coins, one was lost.  There were two sons, one was lost.  Even the elements which Jesus used in these stories varied in value.  A sheep is of little value compared to a silver coin, and a silver coin is of little value compared to the life of a son.  Yet in each case there was rejoicing when that which was lost was found.

When we struggle with the feelings of inadequacies, feeling we are never good enough to warrant and receive God’s love is pictured in these three stories.   Yet what we don’t understand is that God is far more interested in our coming to the Father than we finding the Father.  When we were lost – without hope, and without direction, Jesus came seeking and searching.  Long ago, Isaiah wrote, “We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way” (Isaiah 53:6).  But Jesus said, “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost.” (Luke 19:10).

There is help for our failures and hope for our despair.  Let us take time to read these three accounts found in Luke 15, and see ourselves in that which was lost. Our lives can forever be different.  Believe it.

LISTEN

God said to Israel, "Pay heed to me and listen, and your souls will live!" (Isaiah 55:3).  It is tremendously important to be able to turn to God with one's whole being and to believe that He will speak.  If we hear nothing from God for a long time, it may be because there is something between us and heaven - perhaps we lack love for our brother, or we are at odds with someone.  If this is the case, our waiting is in vain.  Of course, we cannot expect answers from God after only five minutes of silence.  Think how long Jesus Himself sometimes had to wait. But the more our lives belong to Christ, and the deeper is our relationship with Him, the more quickly, He will answer us, and the more quickly He can use us because He knows that there is someone who is completely ready for Him.

THE SPARROW

Are not two sparrows sold for a penny?  Yet none of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father. – Matthew 10:29

Sparrows are pretty insignificant in the kingdom of feathered friends, yet it is amazing how they prominently fit into the language of the Bible.  Jesus often spoke of sparrows, trying to help people understand that God takes note of them, and that people are of greater value than the sparrows of the heaven.

The Lord said, “Are not two sparrows sold for a penny?  Yet none of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father.  And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered.  So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows” (Matthew 10:29-31).

A lot of us can relate to the sparrows. We spent our lives going from one paycheck to the next; digging out an existence.  We flit from one task to the next, doing the best we can with what we’ve got.

How beautiful that Jesus used the sparrow as an object lesson, which teaches us that we may not soar with the eagles or strut with the peacocks, but we are important to our Heavenly Father.  Jesus put it like this:  “Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet our heavenly Father feeds them.  Are you not much more valuable than they?  Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to His life?”  (Matthew 6:26,27).

The next time you hear the chirp of a sparrow, or see one hopping from limb to limb outside your window, remind yourself that his common of birds, is important to our Heavenly Father.  So are you.

PUT IT ON HOLD

When words are many, sin is not absent, but he who holds his tongue is wise. – Proverbs 10:19

With our mouths we can make life good or render it nearly intolerable.  This particular proverb urges us to hold our tongue.

A careless word, a thoughtless comment, an angry retort, a jealous jab – all come from the mouth.

Don’t we often just say what we think?  Don’t we often simply allow our emotions and passions to control our tongues and inflict injury with our words?  To avoid causing so much injury, we basically need to hold our tongues.  But does it do any good to try to manage our tongues by ourselves?

The best way to hold our tongues is to admit we cannot do it ourselves, and to surrender them to the One who can.  Tongues that are on hold, in the grip not of our determination but of divine love, are helpful, healing tongues, held by God.  The only way to hold our tongue successfully is to let God hold it – and use it.