How to Know if God Abandons You

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Has God Abandoned Me?

Jul 12, 2018 · Christopher Hunt

Has God abandoned me? Many people have asked this question at some indicate in their lives. And it is non a new question. Why are you so far from me? echoes similar a refrain through the Psalms. Christians who love Jesus often speak of long seasons when they do not feel his presence in their trials. If y'all're saying to yourself "God has abandoned me," y'all're not alone.

Examples in Scripture

The scriptures cry out with the laments of God'south people who could not detect him in their times of trouble. Some believed he had even turned his mitt against them. When God challenged Satan to exam his retainer Task, who had lived a blameless life in God'south eyes, Job lost everything but his own life. Chore's situation became and so dire he wished he had never even been conceived (Job 3:three). "The arrows of the Almighty are in me," lamented Job, "God's terrors are marshaled confronting me" (Job six:4). In the book of Ruth, Naomi, whose hubby and sons had died, faced desolation. "'Don't call me Naomi,' she told the women. 'Call me Mara, because the Almighty has made my life very bitter...the Omnipotent has brought misfortune upon me'" (Ruth 1:20-21). Again and again, throughout the Psalms, the psalmists cried out to God in one way or another, "Exercise not hibernate your confront from me."

If this cloud of witnesses struggled to see God in the midst of their trials, should we be surprised that nosotros might also?

Doubtfulness and Faith

In times of problem and hardship, even deeply-committed Christians might expect for God in their circumstances and not come across him. This can pb them to doubt; to doubt God's goodness, his love, and even his existence. Mother Teresa famously served the poorest of the poor in India for more than 50 years, yet her writings, seen later her death in 1997, revealed a soul on the edge of despair. For decades, Teresa could non feel God's presence with her. Writer Kerry Walters shares this heartrending confession from Teresa: "In my soul I feel just that terrible hurting of loss—of God non wanting me—of God not being God—of God not really existing." Still, she persevered in the work to which God had called her. Even though she could not experience God most her, those who knew Teresa saw Jesus in her.

Many of united states of america can chronicle to Teresa's cries. The darkest days of my life came not long later on the events of nine/11. My wife of seven years informed me that she no longer wanted to be married. She wanted to leave me and our 2 very small children. In the days that followed, I don't remember asking the question, "Has God abandoned me?" But, I do retrieve wondering where he could exist in all the destruction ravaging in my family. I remember feeling no sense of a response equally I cried out, "God, what is going on here?" It was but in hindsight, sometimes realized years later, that I could finally come across God's stiff hand in the circumstances I had endured.

Realizing the Truth

Mayhap the first glimmers of lite for me during this shadowy flavor were when I realized it might be me who was far away from God (and not the contrary). Raised in the Church building, I had all simply turned my dorsum on God from the age of nineteen until my early 30s. I always believed I had a Savior, but I did not permit him be Lord of my life. It dawned on me that for many years I had been treating God like a bottle of Tylenol: when faced with some crisis, I'd take him off the shelf and ask him for assist. It hit me that I could really point to something God had done in response to my cries each and every one of those times. Merely after each crunch was resolved, I'd always put him right dorsum in the chiffonier.

After this realization, I knew that I needed to render to my begetter'south business firm...I had been a long fourth dimension in a far off country. Some fourth dimension later, I finally recognized that the neighbor lady who'd invited me to church soon after my divorce had been the face of Jesus in my trial. (I attend that church to this day.) In retrospect, I tin can run across God'south presence dotted throughout that menstruation. What I could non meet at the time was that God was remaking my life out of the ashes of destruction.

Assured of God's Nearness

Every person's feel is unlike. If you experience abandoned by God, do not feel aback. Like the Psalmist, we tin can call out, "But you, Lord, do not exist far from me" (Psalm 22:19). We can lean on God's hope to never leave us or to abdicate us (Deuteronomy 31:6). It is only Jesus, while hanging on a cross, with the sin of all the earth upon him, whom God had in fact abased. And in his ache, Jesus echoed David's wail, "My God, my God, why have y'all forsaken me?" (Matthew 27:46). Jesus endured the abandonment of his Father so that we would not have to. In the dark nights of our souls, when we cannot see him, when we do not feel his presence, his last words to his disciples bring us great comfort: "And surely I am with you ever, to the very terminate of the age" (Matthew 28:20).

If you are experiencing a time of deep distress and struggling to find God in the midst of your hurting, we'd like to recommend "Ruth: Surprised by God's Providence," an audio Bible study and ebook from Background and "Our Only Condolement: A Devotional Serial for Hard Times" from our sister ministry building, Today devotional. Nosotros pray these will assistance you discover how God can use your everyday faith and obedience to run into his presence even in the darkest times of your life.