Has God abandoned me?

Has God abandoned you? One of the hardest things that I have to deal with is people who think that God has abandoned them for some reason and that reason varies, usually they think they have let God down big time.

Let me start off by saying God doesn’t abandon people. 2 Peter 3:9 and James 4:8 makes that clear. That’s true even for those who deny God’s existence, however, for those who as this article presumes, know God or have known him, it’s especially true! See John 6:37.

You may well have let Him down big time but forgiveness is available to those who want it and prepared to turn away from whatever it is. Acts 3:19 supports that view.

If you are a Christian what you may be suffering from is a lack of fellowship with God but this is repairable and requires honesty on your part. You may have walked with him in days gone by and enjoyed sweet fellowship of his presence but now you feel far away and abandoned but like the prodigal son story in the bible the Father is longing for you to come back to the fold. I expect you may have to do some soul searching and say sorry to God. Try and put things right if possible and appropriate like Zacchaeus the tax collector and you will be surprised by joy when the Father puts his loving arms around you and welcomes you back. On the other hand it’s possible you may not have even started on the journey of knowing God, especially if you haven’t embraced Jesus, God’s son as your saviour, in which case there is another article I would like to share with you right now called “First steps with God“.

Now for those who think God has abandoned them because they are ill or suffering at this time in their lives I have to say this:

If you are ill e.g have cancer or sad because you have lost loved ones to disease or injury then God is not the one to blame.

That’s right. All these things are not a sign of God’s displeasure or wrath or anger towards you. We live in a world that is very far from the beautiful, safe and wholesome world God intended for us.

A world where there would be no death or pain or suffering, no tears except for joy and one where “Love thy neighbour” would be as natural to everyone as breathing. Where we all had enough to eat, no wars or anger as there would be no cause for such things. We would not covet anyone’s belongings as we would have our own and be satisfied. And mankind would just be bathed in the presence of God and we would all have sweet friendship with our creator who had given us the command to multiply and cover the earth. Each of us would have talents and gifts to share with one another and we would use them together for the benefit of all. There would be farmers and wood workers, metal workers and cooks, and musicians to entertain us. There would be no diseases no plagues and it would be like heaven on earth. We would worship our God and enjoy his indescribable love. So what went wrong?

Well we did! From the very first man and woman God created on this earth.

You see, the bible tells us that a deceiving ex-arch angel called Satan (which just means the deceiver) was thrown out of heaven to Earth who then deceived mankind into disobeying God and then death and trouble and pain and suffering entered the world and the rest, as they say, is history.

From 1 John 5:19 it is clear the whole world is under satan’s influence and Jesus made it clear too in John’s gospel John 12:31

Now that you know, it was never meant to be like it is, you can see why God is not to blame.

Disease and death are signs that we live in a fallen world

(a world that has fallen from its intended state) and that has as a result people living in it who “sin” and cause harm to their fellow man either directly as when we are attacked or taken advantage of or indirectly such as global warming or nuclear testing or pollution etc. In fact even “natural” disasters such as floods caused by global warming and earthquakes caused by underground nuclear testing are not so natural once you think about them for a little while. Mankind has in some way made that possible and can’t control the monster unleashed. Then there are the genetic reasons for our suffering, all the result of deteriorations in the genetic pool from which we are made. Some are a direct result of mankind’s involvement, e.g radiation in the environment as a result of nuclear bomb testing or radiation caused by holes in the ozone layer.

The result of these genetic changes will make our bodies vulnerable to diseases such as cancer or disorders such as cystic fibrosis, all the while, these are not God’s fault or causation. Its not a punishment or retribution.

Sometimes it’s directly our fault through the food choices we make, because some of it has been highly processed and not as God intended or for example smoking 50 cigarettes a day. Things called carcinogens then flood our bodies and eventually exceed the capacity of our bodies repair mechanism’s. Sexually transmitted diseases do not easily afflict the faithful couple or the celibate.

You see there are some Christians who think that curses are the same as judgment and therefore claim that we are under a judgment from God. They are confused. You see it says in Hebrews 9:27 that for an individual judgment comes after death. The reason we die is the consequence of sin. The bible says the wages of sin is death Romans 6:23 . The bible does not use the word judgment lightly and its usage is intended to confer the idea of a wrong being righted.

Let’s look at an earthly equivalent. If you steal something and get caught then you are taken to court where a judge who is impartial decides the punishment that will put the crime “right” for the victim. In this case perhaps a fine on top of restitution of the goods stolen. So it has at its heart a putting right of wrongs.

A curse on the other hand does not right a wrong. That’s why the world is still fallen.

(The wrong hasn’t been righted). In fact the curse of the ground seen in Genesis in regards to Adam and eve’s sin is not the actions of a vindictive God who wants to see us suffer, rather it’s an absence of blessing that God had been supplying all this time. Remember that God said it will no longer produce its abundance for you. Adam had hardly anything to do with its growth as God watered the land and prevented thorns and thistles and other problems.

I have in my garden an apple tree and a plum tree amongst others and one day I went up to each tree and prayed a blessing over them, that they may be fruitful. You won’t believe how fruitful the harvest was. Bags and bags of fruit, even after giving away bags to friends and acquaintances I had so much left over I had to freeze the plums and they lasted for over a year in the freezer. Not only that but my plums which usually used to get infected by pests each year were mostly unaffected by pests.

What I am trying to convey to you is that an absence of God’s blessing in a fallen world – is the curse – and God spelled out the consequences to Adam but it was not judgment to fit the crime and bring restitution. We have to wait for Jesus to come a second time before that happens. For Adam the ground was cursed because of him so we know it’s not because of God. You see God is not judging him or eve in giving him hard toil and her extra birth pains. It’s because God, who was working behind the scenes to make things grow and minimise Eve’s child bearing pains has withdrawn these blessings because Adam and Eve chose to have things their way by disobeying God.

Some people cry out why me, why should I get the cancer or whatever? That’s a good question. There could be complex reasons why something untoward happens to us but really at the heart of this question is the notion that the problem has been “dished out by God” presumably for retribution for something we have done but we don’t believe we have done anything deserving of this trouble so the cry is “why me?” However it is the plainly not biblical to blame God for these things. In fact take a baby born blind. Who sinned? His parents or the baby? I seem to recall that was a question posed to Jesus the author of our faith in John 9:2 Jesus responded by saying “neither” and so should we. Anyone who tries telling you otherwise is in deep trouble as they can’t tell you why or if they try to have a guess they are judging and the bible warns us against doing that in Matthew 7:1

Its not easy to decipher the cause especially if its genetic but it will certainly not be God’s fault and at this point I need to clarify something big. The bible says time and chance happen to all – See Ecclesiastes 9:11. Although this is true it doesn’t mean we shouldn’t pray for God’s hand of protection and providence over our lives. Time and time again we hear of amazing rescues and deliverance for those who pray and depend on God. However the bible says that if we live a Godly life in Christ Jesus we will be persecuted. The apostles did not make it through life without trouble and persecution. Note, God is not the author of the trouble or persecution. Good people do suffer. Mainly because living Godly lives puts us at odds with a sinful world.

There are some Christians in particular that will not agree with this and say to those who are suffering that they have to thank God for what they are going through. He is making something beautiful out of their suffering. They will usually quote Romans 8:28 and say that its all God’s will working out for the good of the individual. They are the kind who say “everything happens for a reason (they mean a GOOD reason). What good then is wrought by a suicide for that individual? God being a master at salvaging situations may well bring good out of what is an evil or bad situation but he does this for those who bring the situation to him through prayer or the prayers of others. He is the great salvager but that does not mean He sent the suffering in the first place in order that some good may result. Does anyone seriously think God could not have achieved the same good without sending the suffering? He is God almighty!

The same type of judgmental Christians will misuse scripture and say we should be joyful in all circumstances – 1 Thessalonians 5:16 but the bible also says:

Rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep.

If we are told to weep with those who weep and Jesus did so, faced with the sadness around Lazarus’s death then how can that scripture to rejoice be understood? Well lets take a look at the Greek words translated by some as “be joyful in all circumstances” The words are chairo and pantote – Literally mean “be of good cheer forevermore”. The King James version says Rejoice evermore. Nothing about all circumstances. Everyone cry’s sometimes, even Jesus! If we believe we must not cry or ever be sad in this world we deceive ourselves because we suppress our feelings at our peril and it comes out in hideous ways. You see, simplistic thinking is the enemy of the Church because we need to handle God’s word with care and take into account all of scripture and not be biased. Those armed with a judgmental view of God in their thinking, either through what they hear through the pulpit or their own poor understanding and bias towards certain beliefs leave a trail of destruction when they practice their belief on the suffering of others. They even apply it to themselves and are indeed inclined to think that that’s what a loving Father does! So they think God is loving them by so doing. Their view of God the Father is warped.

How many people have wandered from the faith because they have listened to these lies and turned around and said to themselves that God can’t be a loving God if he allows this or that.

This latter point brings me to yet another error taught by some Christians who have a simplistic view of the bible and God. For them, God is all powerful and therefore can stop any suffering or disaster – if He so chooses – but He is allowing it, so it must be within His will. Well let’s see. God is all powerful – Yes that makes sense and is biblical. I agree there. God can stop any disaster – Well the problem with this thinking is that it ignores the Justice of God. If God stops a disaster for one person or country, then to be “just” He must stop all disasters for everyone or else God is showing favoritism which clearly goes against scripture in Romans 2:11 and then if He does stop all disasters and suffering we would have a heaven on Earth situation. This also ignores the free will of mankind given by God that leads to disasters like Hiroshima and the Holocaust. So if God was to interfere with your free will, every time you said or did something wrong, to prevent it, THEN to be JUST, He would have to do that for everyone and then no one could do wrong or sin and we would have heaven on earth – but NO FREEWILL. We would all be controlled like robots that would never err. What is not biblical is the thought that God “allows” natural disasters to happen because He wants them to, any more than He allows you to sin because He wants you to.

A lot of evil is taking place in our world at any given moment and if we say God has the power (agreed) but does not stop it, then it must be His will. We would in effect be saying evil is in God’s will. – Huhh? Their thinking goes – Allowing something to happen when you have the power to stop it implies you want it. Again implying God wants evil – No! God gave mankind free will; else no one is to blame but God for our actions – good or bad. So the correct biblical thinking says –

God allowed it because of the free will he gave mankind not because He is powerless to stop it or because He wants it.

If you say God is ultimately in control, you are also unwittingly saying that God is ultimately responsible for everything good and evil that’s happening. The bible does not say God controls everything on earth. It does say that all AUTHORITY belongs to Him and at the moment rests with Jesus Christ. Matthew 28:18

So a more biblical view says mankind’s free will is authorised by God but what mankind does with that free will is up to mankind and it can and does contain evil as well as some good. God does not want the evil but if he uses his power to step in and stop evil we will have heaven on earth but we won’t have free will of mankind. The only solution is for mankind to stop doing evil or God to wipe mankind from the earth. God chose instead to send His son Jesus Christ to Earth to die for mankind’s sin and take the punishment we deserve thereby enabling forgiveness for individuals who believe. This places them in a right standing with God and this forgiveness results in the receiving of the Holy Spirit to indwell that individual to guide and inform on choices they make so that they do good and not evil. All without taking away man’s free will.

Only one problem! A man or woman so indwelt still has free will and is still in control of their life and influenced also by the world the flesh and the devil to some degree because we still have the sinful nature until we die. Such people who are indwelt are called Christians but are not perfect and vary in submission to God’s Holy Spirit. The more submitted they are the more the divine will operates through them for the good of others and God’s kingdom here on earth.

In my next article entitled “Are Angels and Demons Real” I explore how the spiritual battle for souls is fought.