Where are You, God? September 22, 2009

 

My God, my God, why have You forsaken me?

Matthew 27:45-46

 

Have you ever experienced the feeling of being completely abandoned by God? You feel like He is not there. Like He has left you. Like He does not even give a care. It’s during that time that we feel utterly hopeless and heartbroken.

 

I remember that feeling. The feeling that I did not have anyone to go to. The feeling that I was completely abandoned. Of loss. Devastation. Hopelessness. It’s the worst feeling in the world, when you feel like you’ve finally hit rock bottom and you can’t imagine that there’s anything worse that could ever happen.

I remember that. I remember sitting on my bed, crying. Feeling broken, abandoned. And I was angry at God.

I remember, part begging, part pleading, part angry. Crying out to God; asking Him “Where are you, God?”

 

“WHERE ARE YOU?”

 

“Why did you abandon me?”

“What do I do now?”

“Where did You go?”

 

I know that each and every one of you have at the least felt a small degree of that feeling.

 

And check it. People in Bible times experienced this too:

John 11:32

When Mary reached the place where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and said, ‘Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died’.

Okay, not going to lie, this isn’t the most emotional moment, but there’s more to it. I promise, just stay with me here.

This was after Mary’s brother, Lazarus had died. She knew that Jesus could heal him, so she asked him for help days before Lazarus died. But Jesus didn’t come. He didn’t even show up. Not until after Lazarus had already been dead for days.

So, of course, when she sees Him, she wonders why Jesus didn’t show up. She has experienced the awful heartbreak of her brother, her friend, dying. She doesn’t question him. Contrasting with God’s style of answering questions with another question, Mary asks a question through a simple statement. Through that statement we can hear both a question: “Why?”, and an accusation “If you had been here…”

But Mary couldn’t see the whole picture. She couldn’t see into the future and see that Jesus was planning on healing Lazarus, that by bringing him back from the dead, Jesus would further display the awesome power of God. That by bringing him back from the dead, more people would come to believe in the most high God. And ultimately, that by bringing him back, Jesus was teaching us a lesson even today.

 

Every day, God hears questions like that from many of us.

 

But, my friend, it is OK to question God. Questioning Him brings us closer to Him, gives us an opportunity to lay everything out on the table and demand why God made it that way. There are so many times in the Bible where people question God. David asks, many times, where God is and why He abandoned him. The beginning of Psalm 22 is all about asking where God is, and how God doesn’t answer. Even Jesus, when he was dying on the cross, quoted Psalm 22 by asking God “why have you forsaken me?”.

 

One thing that we need to realize, though, is that God is there. He has His arms wrapped around us the whole time; through our kicking and thrashing and  crying. He is here. He is there. He, in fact, is everywhere. Not only that, but He has a plan.

 

There is a reason for everything. God often turns the greatest disaster that happens to us into something good. Many ask how there can possibly be a god when bad things happen. What kind of god would let his children suffer? What kind of god would let a family member die? What kind of god would allow awful things to happen?

 

A kind God; who loves us enough to give us the power to make our own decisions.

A God who has a plan that is so much greater than just one event, day, year, or decade.

A God who is deeply, madly, in love with you; who cherishes you and holds you in his arms. Who’s heart is broken every time you are hurt, heartbroken, or even scratched.

 

This same God is the One who created the earth. He created you. And created me. Who created everything good. Who created heaven. And the way to get there.

 

 Friend, He is always there for you. No matter what.

Isaiah 43:2, 4

When you’re in over your head, I’ll be there with you.
   When you’re in rough waters, you will not go down.
When you’re between a rock and a hard place,
   it won’t be a dead end—

That’s how much you mean to me!
   That’s how much I love you!
I’d sell off the whole world to get you back,
   trade the creation just for you.

 

So even when everything seems hopeless, God is there. You may feel alone and abandoned, but God will never leave you, he will never forsake you. Life is tough, but my God can take it. He is the savior of the world, depend on Him and walk with him.

 

You are not alone.

 

–LEW

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