Have you ever felt Abandoned?
By God?
I know I have!
But the Psalmist says something quite different……….
PSALM 139
“O LORD, you have searched me and known me! You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar. You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways. Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O LORD, you know it altogether. You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high; I cannot attain it. Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence? If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there! If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there your hand shall lead me,”
Now that’s INTIMACY!!
My Thoughts? My path? When I lay down? My ways? My sin? My secrets?
………You mean………I can’t hide? I can’t flee?
………..So why don’t I just suck it up and give up and give in?
Because, I don’t want this intimacy… I have not sought it out!
It scares me…intimidates me…..I lose my freedom to sin freely. But ………is this fullness?
Is this walking by the Spirit? Filled with the Holy Spirit……………..
Of course not!
King David wanted it and asked God for it……
“Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!”
–Psalm 139:23
Who do you know who says that? Try me and know my thoughts! Are you kidding me……..I am ashamed of my thoughts about my everything……..
My wife, my children, the half naked woman who walks past me at the airport, my enemies, my neighbors, etc.
But you will not have Intimacy and Walk with God in the Supernatural without this prayer!
Eldredge makes it clear….
“Intimacy with God is the purpose of our lives. It’s why God created us. Not simply to believe in him, though that is a good beginning. Not only to obey him, though that is a higher life still. God created us for intimate fellowship with himself, and in doing so he established the goal of our existence—to know him, love him, and live our lives in an intimate relationship with him. Jesus says that eternal life is to know God (John 17:3). Not just “know about” like you know about the ozone layer or Ulysses S Grant. He means know as two people know each other, know as Jesus knows the Father—intimately.”
Eldredge, John (2010-09-19). Walking with God: Talk to Him. Hear from Him. Really. (p. 18). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition.
So…..if you feel abandoned or lonely………ask yourself……………who Left?
Come near to God and He will come near to you.
–James 4:8