Do you ever feel as if you are a bit rusty when it comes to worshiping the Lord? Maybe because we have been home for so long and not really going out to regular church, a lot of good christians have pulled back the worshiping Him in spirit and in truth. It may be because they feel distant, or forgotten by the Church as a whole but I think a lot of it is that people begin to feel forsaken by God when even the gathering together to worship is "dialed back". What can we do to get out of that rough patch in our time spent in His presence?
First get with it! Make a joyful noise to the Lord!
If God did not forsake the Israelites in their wanderings in
the desert for 40 years: He will not forsake you.
Not only did He not forsake them, but he blessed them with
manna from heaven, direction from Himself, protection bye way of the pillars of
fire and smoke; by night and day and the Spirit of God instructed them. All
this He gave and did for thousands of people who ignore the rules, threw fits
when they were given specific details of where to go and what to do. They had
the gall to tell God that they thought. “He is wrong to think they can go in
and claim the land”. Forty years later they claimed the land instead of that
week.
What patience our God must have to endure all of that. I am
amazed that all he did was swallow a few hundred up in the ground when they
blatantly ignored what He gave Moses as laws. He only ‘zapped’ a couple when
they desecrated the temple tent by doing things their own way.
Still even now, we in our humanness fuss and fret that He
won’t forgive us our sins, that He will punish us for saying the wrong thing at
the wrong time or for being occasionally selfish. We worry and trouble our
hearts over such foolish things that get our hearts and minds off what He
really wants.
Yes, He wants our obedient hearts but he also wants a heart
of worship, He longs to hear us say I love You Lord and I lift my voice to You!
He desires to give us the desires of our heart but we must first repent of
those things we have held dear to our hearts instead of Him. You know the things
like pride, selfishness ambition, rebellion, and greed. These things will
hinder us from feeling, knowing and accepting the sincere fact that God will
truly never forsake us.
Even in all this there is nothing we can do that will make
our Lord walk away from us. He is like gum on our shoes; and there is no peanut
butter strong enough to remove Him. I have walked through a parking lot trying
to remove gum on a hot day, I am sure you have too. You know how it sticks to
this thing and that thing and then continues to stretch around on your shoe?
You try to cover it up with dirt, you try to remove it by scraping it with a
hard sharp surface and still when you get home and remove the shoe, the gum is
still there. It’s a little worn and dirty looking from all the damage you have
done to it, but its still there.
Okay the difference is that God is not as annoying as a wad
of gum on your shoe, but you get the idea. He is not going anywhere!
The only time I can find in the Bible, correct me if I am
wrong, that God turned His face away was when He saw His son Jesus nailed and
hanging on the cross. We know this is when Jesus cried out (the original title
of this book) to the Father those words we all remember; when Jesus cried out; “Eloi,
Eloi… Lama Sabactani…”? Which being interpreted is; “My God, My God why have
you forsaken me?” We learn later in the Word of God, that He did not really
forsake Jesus, the scripture does not even actually say the Father turned his
face away but I can imagine He could not stand to see all the sin, the pain
that we the world suffered. He could not stand to see all those people in
The way I could not stand to see the mess of that country;
Father God surely could not stand to see all the horrible things that we have
done in this world to other people, words we used, violence suffered all upon
His beloved son.
Could you? I can’t stand it when I see one of my children
suffer at the hand of another, or even at their own foolishness. My heart rips
apart when I hear their tears of desperation at the thought of being forsaken
by me. When my child told me that they did not think I cared about a situation
it was the same to my heart. The child may have told me that I had forsaken
him.
As a mother I will not forsake my child. There is an inner
pulling at my heartstrings that stops me from totally ignoring their pleas for
help. I may look away because they have themselves in such an awful situation
at the time but; I will not forsake the ones I love.
He will not forsake the ones who seek His face. Seek His face in worship today! Allow Him to lead you, if you cannot get to service in groups its okay, worship Him face to face. Start a new way of worship with the Lord and you, and your family or close friends.
I
will lead blind
Yet
in Your great Mercies You did not utterly consume them, or forsake them. You
are a gracious and merciful God.
Nehemiah 9: 31 (Amplified Version)
The
Lord also will be a refuge for the oppressed; a refuge in the time of trouble.
And those who know Your name will put their trust in You; for You LORD have not
forsaken those who seek You. Psalm 9:9-10 (NKJV)
Indeed
the Lord has proclaimed to the end of the world;
“say
to the daughter of Zion, ‘surely your salvation is coming; behold His reward is
with Him, and His work is before Him”
And they shall call them The Holy People, The Redeemed of the Lord; and
you shall be called Sought Out, a City Not Forsaken.
Isaiah
62:11-12 (NKJV)
We are sought out by God to serve, to love Him and one
another and to do His will in each of our lives. He calls to us even before we
know who He is. He stands at the door and knocks waiting patiently, then after
we know Him; He still waits to spend time with Him. Have you given in to His
desire to spend time with you today?
My health may fail my spirit may grow weak, but God remains
the strength of my heart; He is mine forever. Psalm 73:24
Dear Heavenly Father, be the strength of our hearts today
and help us to spend time with you. We know that You desire to spend time with
You today, give us the solitude of moments in order to spend them in Your
presence. For in Your presence is fullness of joy, in Jesus name, amen.
Suggested
Isaiah 42:1-26, Isaiah 62:1-12, Psalm 9:1-20, Psalm
20:1-9, Matthew 27:1-65, Mark 15:1-27.
Extra read: Psalm 73: 1-28