Abandonment our turning point

Abandonment is a very familiar realty in the lives of God’s elect.

This reality was felt by great men and women of God in all different ages.

Although this word could include more than one meaning, yet in its original meaning it carries in itself a heavy truth about being ignored.

Hearing this word brings out in us the bitter feelings of rejection and pain and in some instances it carries a heavy feeling of shame attached to it. Abandonment also means a willful act of another on behalf of some one or some thing. In its verbal expression it always carries in itself a negative meaning. It is very seldom used as a positive thing in itself.  Today we are going to talk about abandonment under the light of the word of God.

The word abandonment relates to men and things. We as men could abandon, meaning we could  ( Leave or reject or neglect care for ) other men or things. This shows our lack of interest or love for that person or thing. Abandonment to the abandoned is very much different than the person leaving or abandoning. To the abandoned rejection is the highest feeling felt. Lack of care or love is the root of most common forms of abandonments.

Now beside the physical forms of abandonment there is the spiritual feelings of abandonment. This is the main subject of our discussion tonight.

The feeling of God abandoning His own is the most scariest thought ever.

There is the reality of God abandoning  some for a while due to their own sin and lawlessness and then the spiritual feeling of abandonment felt by the majority of His elect due to their fears of such divine justice.

In the physical acts of abandonment some see that as rejection of men, just like Hagar being sent away into the desert felt abandoned and rejected by God and man, yet in reality it was a predestined plan to bring her and Ishmael to the fulfillment of God’s promises for them both. The wilderness was the perfect environment for their faith being examined and rewarded by the spiritual awakening they received through the discovery of the well that was available to sustain them while in the pursuit of their blessing promised to them by God.  The same way the wilderness of Sin and the Sinai desert an abandoned desert served as the perfect place of worship inscribed by God. That is why Moses in pleading with Pharaoh said “ The Lord said to let My people go, that they may hold a feast to Me in the wilderness”. Exodus 5:1 Why in the wilderness and what kind of a feast could be held in the wilderness?

Many  go through very real seasons of so called abandonment, yet in the midst of it all find God’s true love for them there. Almost all of His anointed prophets felt the sting of rejection and abandonment to eventually discover God’s highest form of love and care in the midst f their abandonment. Naomi Ruth’s mother in-law returning from Moab demanded to be called Mara meaning bitterns, unaware of God’s continued mercy on her behalf. Job in his trials must have felt completely abandoned by the Almighty, but again not knowing its real purpose he too had to wait for his own turning point.  Isaiah the prophet too in Isaiah chapter 40 finally rediscovered God’s unfailing love for His people. These men all had to experience their wildernesses and must have felt abandoned so that soon they could discover God’s love for them in their seasons of dryness.

They all had to read the ugly hand writing of abandonment to later on embrace its higher purpose  in heir lives.

Among all of these men I can recall one man who’s life became the greatest testimony of all times in feeling abandoned by His commissioner and  God. This man was Jeremiah the prophet.

Jeremiah like many other prophets of old had a very difficult assignment from God. Just like Habakkukand prophet Ezekiel and the rest of them at times in his own life he felt very lonely and abandoned by men in their understanding of him and his call and then even with God he felt rejected and abandoned. He was feeling abandoned by men, because he did not seem to find a man who would understand his pain in caring for the dying nation, soon going into captivity. He also felt rejected and abandoned by God when he saw himself in the predicaments of a wicked nation. As King David many times felt the similar pain and cried out to God for relief, so did Jeremiah the prophet.

In Lamentations of prophet Jeremiah chapter 3 the prophet of God in his anguish cries out to God in all his distress. The armies of the enemy had captured the land and in the affliction of his people he too was afflicted, yet in his lament he goes beyond his physical pain.

Here he is speaking about the anguish of his soul and the abandonment from God, and the lack of hope he feels in his heart. In his feeling of total rejection Jeremiah almost is giving up all hope. Then all of sudden as though he remembers or reminds himself of the restoration of hope within himself, in the first 19 verses of his prophetic utterance he speaks of his afflictions, and God’s difficult dealing with him as His prophet. To the point he mentions his trials as an unbearable yoke upon him, but in verses 20 to 33 it is as though a light is being turned on in his heart in regards to God’s eternal character.

As though all of a sudden now a door of hope is opened up before him and he is able to see the other side of his afflictions. He is suddenly reminded of God’s covenant love called His mercies toward those who would partake in God’s suffering. Those who would be burden bearers with Him.

Prophet Jeremiah all of a sudden realizes God’s sustaining grace and mercy in being able to bare his hard and difficult crucible situations and begins to praise His God in all of his afflictions. The prophet here proclaims God’s compassions that would not fail and His mercies that are new every morning.

In finding such tremendous virtue from the Lord the prophet starts proclaiming

“ Great is Your faithfulness”

and then he says

“ The Lord is my portion” says my soul.

“Therefore I hope in Him”.

( Lamentations 3:22-24 )

It is the same today. We who are faced with many challenges and difficulties in life sometime feel very lonely even though at times we might be surrounded by many well meaning people. However we feel misunderstood abandoned and rejected. This is the best turning point for many of us. Almost 16 years ago after a very great personal trial in my life I felt this very feeling and this served as my turning point in life from self to God. When I felt all including God had forsaken me He called me by my own surprise into the wilderness to hold a feast on to Him.

Yes in the wilderness of my abandonment I was found to be the object of His covenant and steadfast love called the mercies of the Lord.

And now here again  almost 16 years later I face this giant of feeling abandoned again, now  in a total different dimension and for higher divine  purpose.

This time after almost 16 years being burdened under the pressures of ministry, and the intensity of thespiritual warfare and the challenges of life in these final days I feel the pangs of  abandoned  all over again.

Also observing the inner conflicts between the Kingdom of God that is within me and the demands of the carnal nature warring against it has wearied my soul, Yet I  believe and trust that this very thing is going to serve as another turning point  in my life  for a higher level of trust in Him.

For  I know that the feelings of abandonment and rejection in a believers heart is serving as the turning point for them. This  could be their only source of trust and help in their time of need. As a child is crying out from the pain of rejection we too will cry out with a stretched arm for help, and this is the quest for another source of sustenance called a higher life in God.

As our Lord and Savior Jesus was humbled to suffer the pain of rejection by being despised of men we too must endure this suffering, so that we can also attain the fullness of His resurrection life in us.

Therefore Isaiah said….” He was despised and rejected by men. A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief and we hid, as it were our faces from Him.

Surely He has borne our grief’s and carried our sorrows; Yet we esteemed Him stricken. Smitten by God, and afflicted., But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed…..”

( Isaiah 53: 3-5 )

These are the identifying marks of our Lord and Redeemer.  A sure sign of His prophetic and High Priestly ministry.  This is why the Bible says Him being in the form of man sympathized with all our weaknesses so that he would be a perfect High Priest before God on behalf of the fallen man. And in Him the highest form of abandonment  took place when called from the cross. Eloi, Eloi Lama Sabactani. A real turning point.