“My God, my God, why have You forsaken me? Far from my deliverance are the words of my groaning” (Ps. 22:1).
Do you feel that God has forsaken you? That He left you in the middle of nowhere? Perhaps you feel forsaken, because your prayers are not being answered; there is quietness from the Lord that you do not wish. You are praying in faith with all your heart, but you do not see the end of the tunnel. Yet, it appears that others are being delivered and blessed. Your pain, sickness or financial problems have not gone away, though you are putting all your trust in Him. More so, you have His promises and yet, they are not fulfilled. You hope and you expect, but there seems to be no end to your waiting.
Sometimes there will be situations where you have to see the end of what you do not want or completely face a situation that gives you pain. But does it mean God forsook you? Has He left you altogether? The answer is an emphatic no. In all your pain, suffering, lack, fear and sickness He is with you. He is allowing you to experience something that when you have come out of it will be much stronger and useful to Him than before. He is preparing you for an exceptional time by an exceptional journey. He wants the world to see you in your lowly state so that after you receive His unfathomable lovingkindness they realize His glory and power.
I can categorically tell you today that when you feel like God has forsaken you, you can certainly take to heart that He is with you; for He has chosen you in love and not by another. He has paid the price for you on the cross by making His Son die in your stead. There is not a chance in this world or in the heavens that He will leave you in the mire. When you feel He has left you, it is your extreme desire for His presence and help that you feel that way. And He knows it. After allowing you to go through many emotions and then purifying you of any weakness, fear, failure and incompetence, He will lift you up. Just believe that when you feel He is quiet toward you, He is preparing a life for you that will be beautiful. When you feel His promises are not being fulfilled, know that He is laying out a perfect future for you. You will not leave this earth until all He wished for you is performed, until all your prayers receive answers and until you see abundant life.
See what He said. “In repentance [withdrawal] and rest you will be saved, in quietness and trust is your strength” (Isa. 30:15). This is a great reminder for you who are waiting on Him. You have to withdraw from all your works your mind instructs you to do to escape pain and learn to rest from them. Your works create false imaginations and confusion only to give you more pain, fear and dissatisfaction. They make you sin by making you think against God’s plans, and if you are doing them, you need to repent. Stop running to others or places or things. Be quiet and let the Lord do His work in and for you. Do not obstruct His way with you. Train your heart and mind to trust Him. Then, you receive immense strength from Him and will not lose the battle of emotions. Remember, there has not been a time that He left you. Brighter days are not far away!
If you feel the Lord has forsaken you, there are reasons. Check and see if one or more of the following applies to you. Yet, in all of this He is still with you and once He is done with you, you will witness great joy.
- It is an iniquity of yours that the Lord is planning to remove. Sometimes it is very difficult to point out a wrong doing in us. We may not pay much attention to it. It might concern with our attitude toward others or another like fear or unbelief in God with certain matters. It obstructs a perfect relationship with Him. And, He is aware of it. Or, it is a known sin to you that you are unwilling to forego and the Lord will not bless you until it is removed. Here is the reason He wants to remove it from you and show you that He has not forsaken you. “Therefore say, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD, ‘I will gather you from the peoples and assemble you out of the countries among which you have been scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel’’” (Ezek. 11:17). He is determined to bless you, answer you and give you desires in order to fulfill them.
- He does not want you to be wasteful. If you are not productive like He desires, it’s no good to Him and to you. Because, “Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire” (Matt. 7:19). By the pain He allows you to go through He brings out the best from you. He has so many wishes concerning you and He desires to accomplish all of them. He has picked you as His choice for a purpose. He makes sure He fulfills it. You are not chosen to be thrown into fire. Once you are ready and are bearing the fruit of the Spirit, He will begin opening a wide range of doors that you receive honor.
- He wants you to experience His kingdom to the fullest. “Jesus answered and said to him, ‘truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom [power, glory, capabilities, possibilities] of God’” (John 3:3). You must be born again to see His kingdom, but then you must also be prepared for it. Your feeling that He has forsaken you is just part of His work toward you. He wants you as His child to witness many things about His kingdom. So, get ready for joy, honor and prosperity.
At the time when Paul went through suffering, shame, fear of death, undue accusations and years in prison, he had the mind to say the following. “In regard to all the things of which I am accused by the Jews, I consider myself fortunate, King Agrippa, that I am about to make my defense before you today” (Acts 26:2). He would have felt forsaken by God for a brief moment. Emotions do their work on anyone. But, believing His God is with him every second by the desire for His presence and help, he waited on Him to deliver. And when God opened the door to make a defense, it meant his day of deliverance is near. He did not fuss at his inactive time in prison, but I am sure he prayed tirelessly; for he knew that whatever he was going through would have to yield in God’s glory and his joy.
Consider yourself blessed when you feel you have been forsaken by God. For then you can depend and trust on Him even more. When you are born again by grace through faith, you are sealed by the Holy Spirit for a fantastic result. “Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption” (Eph. 4:30). There’s no way God would leave you. You are destined to be redeemed from the fleshly body to live with Him in eternity. And if this is your ultimate destiny, what factors that now make you feel He has forsaken you can remain? God bless you!