Abandoned
This article is for everyone experiencing isolation. The loneliness seems too much to bear. You feel abandoned. You may venture out to be among people, but in a crowd, you still feel alone. You return home to an empty space. Music, television voices, or your own voice are the only sounds you hear. The silence is deafening, and you dislike what life has become. I’ve been there. I know too well the pain of loneliness. What a contrast this was with what life used to be like. The empty home was once filled with laughter and conversations. Words of another human echoed off the walls. But not now.
Recite the words of the psalmist in the silence that saddens you. Speak these words loudly, “When my father and my mother forsake me, then the Lord will take me up,” (Psalm 27:10). This passage sits amidst desperate words prayed by David. More than once he had experienced abandonment. Once when Israel’s first king sought to kill David. All because of his jealousy of David, but David was truly underserving of the treatment. Another instance involved a coup initiated by his own son, Absalom who also felt alienated and disrespected by his father.
In the open verses of Psalm 27, David reminded himself of God’s protection. He invited God to rescue him from his plight. In this low point of David’s life, he turns to the only source of comfort he can find during this period of abandonment, the days of his alienation and attack. Consider what else David wrote in Psalm 27, “Hide not thy face far from me; Put not thy servant away in anger: Thou hast been my help; leave me not, Neither forsake me, O God of my salvation,” (verse 9). My beloved, hear me clearly via the words of scripture that can anchor you too. “If God is for you, who can be against you,” which are not my words, but based on God’s words found in Romans 8:31.
The last two verses of Psalm 27 reveals David’s hope. In strong words and a deeper resolve, he said, “I had fainted, unless I had believed To see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait on the Lord: Be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: Wait, I say, on the Lord,” (Psalm 27:13–14). Notice the emphasis on WAIT. Absent is a spirit of impatience. Present is a spirit of confidence in God’s ability to protect and rescue.
Jesus Christ, the Son of the Living God knows your struggle. He too experienced abandonment numerous times in His earthly ministry. Once when a crowd withdrew from Him due to their unwillingness to comprehend His teachings. Instead of being filled with spiritual insights, they sought to fill their bellies once again with fish and bread (John 6:25-67). Consider verses 66 and 67, “From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him. Then said Jesus unto the twelve, Will ye also go away?” Another example of abandonment Jesus experienced involved the cross of Calvary. In exhaustion while life was ebbing away, Jesus asked the Heavenly Father, “My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me,” (Matthew 27:46)? He who experience immense pain and suffering, now feels abandoned by the Father who had been with Him in all of eternity past. We accept God abandoned Jesus momentarily because Jesus was the proper payment for our sins.
Yes, Jesus knows more about the pain of abandonment than any of us. Thus, He knows your sorrow. He knows your sadness. But hear His words to you, “I will never leave you, nor forsake you,” (Hebrews 13:5). He declared, “I am with you always, even to the end of the world,” (Matthew 28:20). Let His words fill the void of silence. Let His words reverberate in your heart and mind. Recall, David said, “When my father and my mother forsake me, then the Lord will take me up.” Jesus promised to do just that. He promised to always be present even when everyone or at least key people have departed.
Therefore, comfort yourself with this prayer, “O Lord. My loneliness hurts. It brings a numbness that seems overwhelming. If it were not for You God, I would hide in the shadows of my own loneliness. But GOD, You are my rescue. Life is in You. You will teach me to smile again. You will bring forth joy that passes all understanding. I invite Your power right now God. Right now, please dispatch ministering angels to restore me. Speak a word of transformation. Bring forth people into my life to help fill the emptiness. I trust in You and know Thou are a present help in trouble. Ease my troubled soul. I ask this prayer in the name of Jesus Christ, my Lord and my Savior. AMEN!!!”