Not Forgotten
Hope-filled faith is easy when things are going as we want them to. We praise God when our prayers are answered. We get the job, find true love, get the good results we've been waiting for, or find that sweet parking spot.
"God is so good."
That kind of faith isn't so easy when things don't go our way and life's trials hit and knock us down to the ground.
We try our best to be optimistic and stay focused on God. We read all the motivational quotes and scriptures, pray the proper prayers, bathe in essential oils, ask for help, and keep hoping for the best.
Just as we start to get back up, BAM, the next 123 punch comes, and we are down again.
After a couple of hits like that, we start to question everything and listen to those dark voices:
God has abandoned you, you are alone
God isn't real, and you are a fool to think so
Life sucks, and then you die - face it
You are forgotten - no one is coming to rescue you; you should just give up
That last one hits us hard.
We cry, scream, and beg, "GOD - WHERE ARE YOU? Why aren't you helping me? Why aren't you getting me out of this?"
We want out of our pain and misery.
Where is this good God we were praising before?
Silence.
So, with our calls unanswered, we lie there, bruised, battered, and hopeless, certain that God has forsaken us and we are alone.
I wish I could make sense of that for us. I wish I could offer some wisdom that transcended a patronizing, quippy "It is what it is," or "God only gives you what you can handle," or "Give it up to God."
None of that helps, I know.
What I can say is that you are not alone. I don't know if that helps either, but here goes.
Start reading through the Bible, and in no time at all, you are going to find a bunch of dudes crying, screaming, and begging just like you have been. In their pain and sorrow, they wondered where God was.
Even Jesus cried out to God before He died, pleading in anguish, wondering why God had forgotten him.
But here is the good part.
Those same dudes didn't give up. After their pleadings and cries of anguish, they reminded themselves of all the times God had saved them.
They recalled and relied on the truths of who God is, even in the silence that suffering can bring.
Despite the knockdowns, they praised God and reminded themselves of how good God is.
Rather than looking to God as the problem solver and fixer, they looked to Him as the counselor, the companion, the strengthener, the friend.
Eventually, those dudes began to regain their hope. Their faith sustained them and gave them the strength to stand up and continue.
We could learn some things from these dudes.
Someday, this storm will pass, those bruises will heal, and you will get back up.
Don’t you give up.
You may be knocked down, my precious friend, but you are not out.
I know it's quiet, and I know you are hurting.
You are not and will never be forgotten.
God loves you so much and He sees you there, and He is with you, even if you can't see or feel Him.
You are not alone.
God has found you, and He is never, EVER going to let you go.
Matthew 27: 45-46
From noon until three in the afternoon darkness came over all the land. About three in the afternoon Jesus cried out in a loud voice, "Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?" (which means "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?)"
Genesis 50:20
You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.
Psalm 42: 9-11
I say to God my Rock, "Why have you forgotten me? Why must I go about mourning, oppressed by the enemy?" My bones suffer mortal agony as my foes taunt me, saying to me all day long, "Where is your God?" Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God.
1 Peter 5:6
Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.
Deuteronomy 31:8
The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged."