I read an e-mail from an old friend the other day that ended in, “My God, My God, why hast though Forsaken me!
This person was going through some hard times and had come to the conclusion that God had forsaken them.
Does God do this? Is it possible to be forsaken by the Lord?
The Author of 2nd Chronicles said, in chapter 15 verse 2, “Hear ye me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin; the Lord is with you while ye be with him; and if ye seek him, he will be found of you; but if you forsake him, he will forsake you.”
It seems to be more of a forsaking of the Lord which brings about, “being forsaken of the Lord,” for listen to what Moses said in the Book of Deuteronomy, 29:24-25. Even all Nations shall say, Wherefore hath the Lord done this unto this land? What meaneth the heat of this great anger?
Then men shall say, Because they have FORSAKEN THE COVENANT of the Lord God of their Fathers, which He made with them when he brought them forth out of the land of Egypt:
Is it not quite probable that when someone feels they are forsaken of the Lord that it is really a matter of that individual having forsaken the COVENANT. And if we forsake the covenant (now it is the New Covenant in his Blood Heb. 13:20, Luke 22:20, Matt.26:28, Hebrews 8:10, 12:24), we are in reality taking ourselves out of his protective hands.
But what about what Hebrews 15:5 says, “I will never leave thee nor forsake thee.” And also there is Romans 8:35 which states, “Who shall separate us from the Love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?”
In verse 38 Paul says, “For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor Angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the Love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
It seems to me that it is more than obvious from these scriptures that there is NOTHING which can separate us from God or what he has accomplished for us through Jesus Christ. Oops, did I say nothing? I’m afraid I may have overlooked the one, single thing which could separate us from Christ, and what he has accomplished for us.
Remember the writer of 2nd Chronicles said, “If you forsake him, he will forsake you.” And Moses wrote in Deuteronomy that the heat of this great anger comes about because of them forsaking the Covenant.
Apostle Paul (I’m convinced is the Author of Hebrews) wrote in Hebrews 3:12, Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God.
I do not believe it is so much a matter of God leaving us as it is a matter of us leaving God. It’s simply a matter of us no longer believing that Christ paid the full bill that was owed, by the shedding of His Blood at Calvary.
When we try to bring something to God in order to pay part of our sin debt: whether it be good works, the using of our talents, or anything else which we may think will contribute to our salvation; we will find that we are not pleasing God. All of our talents, and all of our good works should be for the work of God, but out of Love and Appreciation for what Christ has done for us, not as something that will in any way contribute to our Justification before God (Galatians 2:16 Knowing that a man is not JUSTIFIED by the works of the Law, but by the Faith of Jesus Christ). If the works of the Law, which was given to Moses by God could not Justify us, how in the world can we possibly believe that any kind of works which we can come up with could Justify us before the Lord? It is, I believe EXTREMELY important to know and understand that it is ONLY because of what Jesus Christ did on the Cross that we are able to have any communion with God (Ephesians 2:13).
ROCK OF AGES, CLEFT FOR ME. LET ME HIDE MYSELF IN THEE
LET THE WATER AND THE BLOOD, FROM THY WOUNDED SIDE WHICH FLOWED,
BE OF SIN THE DOUBLE CURE, SAVE FROM WRATH AND MAKE ME PURE.
COULD MY TEARS FOREVER FLOW, COULD MY ZEAL NO LANGUOR KNOW,
THESE FOR SIN COULD NOT ATONE; YOU MUST SAVE, AND YOU ALONE;
IN MY HAND NO PRICE I BRING, SIMPLY TO THY CROSS I CLING.
WHILE I DRAW THIS FLEETING BREATH, WHEN MY EYES SHALL CLOSE IN DEATH,
WHEN I RISE TO WORLDS UNKNOWN, AND BEHOLD THEE ON THY THRONE,
ROOCK OF AGES, CLEFT FOR ME, LET ME HIDE MYSELF IN THEE
