8/7/21 - Feeling Forgotten by God

Have you ever felt forgotten by God?  I remember a radio caller whose wife had been suffering from a herniated disk and was in extreme pain.  There were also insurance coverage issues, and he said she felt God had forgotten her.

Certainly Satan uses situations of chronic pain to attempt to plant seeds of doubt regarding God’s care for us, His awareness of us and His goodness in our lives.  Way back in the Garden of Eden, where there wasn’t any evidence of pain or suffering, Satan planted seeds of doubt in the mind of Eve by contradicting God with lies.  She listened to the lie, bought into the enemy’s scheme and, as a result, hers, Adam’s and all of our lives were forever changed.

God’s plan for situations of pain or suffering extend far beyond the immediate feelings of discomfort and even anguish. None of us likes pain or looks forward to suffering; we all would rather live in unhampered comfort and ease.  However, God’s plans for our situation are always meant to draw us closer to Him in recognition of our need of Him, as well as trusting in His sovereign purposes for allowing the suffering.  As in the case of our caller, we always pray in faith and ask God to heal (He is able!) but we also trust Him and His sovereign plans in the midst of the situation, leaving the results to Him.

God’s sovereignty is sometimes the hardest aspect of His character for me to personally embrace, especially when it comes to suffering or injustice.  I must (we all must) choose to embrace His sovereign will or we can’t truly trust Him.  Part of living by faith is believing that His ways, which are far above our ways, are designed to reveal not only His authority and holiness, but also His love and mercy.

There are those who would tell us that all pain and suffering are from Satan but, ultimately, if God is sovereign and in control (and He is!), then He must allow it to accomplish His plans and His purposes.  Job is the perfect example of God’s sovereign plan of pain and suffering.  The enemy may have executed the suffering but God is the one who authorized it to bring about His perfect plans in Job’s life.

If you are feeling forgotten by God due to circumstances that are painful and difficult, TURN TO HIM, and consciously choose to trust Him as Job did, regardless what others are saying to you or the enemy is whispering to you.

Even King David felt that God had forgotten him when he poured out his heart in Psalm 13:

How long, O Lord?  Wilt Thou forget me forever?

How long wilt Thou hide Thy face from me?

How long shall I take counsel in my soul, having sorrow in my heart all the day?

How long will my enemy be exalted over me?

Consider and answer me, O Lord, my God.

Enlighten my eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death, lest my enemy say, “I have overcome him,” lest my adversaries rejoice when I am shaken.

BUT, I HAVE TRUSTED IN THY LOVINGKINDNESS; My heart shall rejoice in the Thy salvation.

I will sing to the Lord because He has dealt bountifully with me.

Note that David cried out in anguish to the Lord in the first two verses, asked for God’s perspective and answer in the third and fourth verses and then chose to trust Him in the last two verses before God answered Him or lifted the suffering.

God loves us with an everlasting love and is ready to meet each of us with His strength to endure, His grace to persevere and His mercy to carry us so, turn to Him dear one!