Has God Abandoned Us?

Someone hurt your feelings and you can't let it go. You sit there stewing and wondering how someone could do this to you. The whole world seems to be in turmoil right now and people everywhere are suffering. Where is God? Sometimes it's hard to think God is anywhere near or even cares. Why does He allow so much pain and suffering and why does it seem He's so far away?

I believe one of the reasons God seems so far away is because Satan is able to get us to focus on ourselves. When someone hurts us we can't help but think of ourselves and our hurt feelings. It's easy to get angry and even a little vengeful and this is exactly what Satan wants. It's these kinds of thoughts and feelings that help build a gap between ourselves and God, and if we're not careful that gap will continue to get wider and wider.

Another thing that causes the gap to widen is when we get so wrapped up in things going on around us; we don't give Him a second thought. We're too busy with our jobs or our families, or whatever else is going on, and we just don't have time to think of anything else. When it comes to our problems, we seem to think we can solve them all by ourselves. Isn't it true we will drive ourselves crazy thinking of every possible solution, and try everything we can before we ever even think of turning to God for help? And usually we only turn to Him out of frustration because we've exhausted every other avenue.

You would think we'd learn, after failing time and time again, when left to our own devices but we usually don't. Our human nature is like a magnet which constantly keeps drawing us back to ourselves and pulling us away from God. It's a daily struggle, and if we don't keep God first in our thoughts and actions, we're pulled far too easily back into the clutches of the world.

We need to slow down and set aside a time to talk to Him, and we need to listen to Him. He reminds us in His Word to "be still and know I am God." That's a reminder to us of the dire need to shut out the world, with all its noise and distractions, and just be still and be quiet. How else will we be able to hear Him speak to our hearts, giving us the direction and comfort we need in our trying times?

God is as near as you want Him to be, or as far as you push Him. Every single thing we say or do that interferes with our relationship to Him pushes Him farther away. We need to stop waiting until something goes wrong before we give Him our attention and talk to Him and listen to Him every day. The next time you wonder why He allows pain or why He wasn't there in times of trouble, just remember it's not He who abandons us; it's we who abandon Him.