Feeling Lost
Awake, Lord! Why do you sleep? Rouse yourself! Do not reject us forever. Why do you hide your face and forget our misery and oppression? We are brought down to the dust; our bodies cling to the ground. Rise up and help us; rescue us because of your unfailing love. Psalm 44:23-26
Have you ever been in that place where you feel utterly lost? Your faith is genuine, but the circumstances are so painful that you feel like God has abandoned you. Where is God when I am hurting and the situation seems hopeless? It’s a terrible place to be. If you haven’t been there, I’m sure you know others who have. Every family has heartache. Every church will have members who are suffering. Every neighborhood will have someone who experiences sorrow. It happens. Life is challenging, and many times, pain is not dealt out proportionally. What do we do with unexpected hurt in our lives? Why am I or someone in my family experiencing more pain than other people? It doesn’t appear to make sense or be fair.
CS Lewis served in the British military in France during World War I. He was an atheist when he went to war. But, when he came out, despite the carnage and losing most of his platoon battle wounds, the war started his spiritual journey, propelling him towards becoming one of the greatest Christian apologists ever. However, many soldiers who went to battle came back atheists, if not bitter. They presupposed that God did not care about the misery and suffering they had experienced. Why should they believe in a God who appeared to be absent? The question is, why did the war propel Lewis towards Christ, while others were drawn in the opposite direction?
Pain or the absence of it cannot be the foundation of my love for God. If I thank God for the blessings in my life, I must also thank Him for the tragedies that occur. I will know the true character of God when I can love him despite my miserable circumstances or my good times. That doesn’t mean we can’t go to Him with our doubts. But we must look beyond the immediate and see the eternal picture. If not, we will be lost in the immediate and the eternal. Psalm 44 is passionate about God’s love but laments that God has forgotten them. “Lord, why do you sleep?” Yet he acknowledges his “unfailing love.”
We live in a privileged society, and it is difficult for us to grasp the amount of pain most people experience in the world. Due to our affluence, we often have a different perspective on pain. For example, I have had knee, hip, foot, hand, eye, and brain surgery. They were necessary and, voila, I’m better. I thank God for modern medicine and for the ability to have them corrected so effectively. At the same time, I’ve not been shot, I’ve never missed a meal, I own my home and car, I can travel freely, and I can worship any day of the week without reprisal. I am thankful, but my privileges isolate me from most of the rest of the world, who do not have access to medical technology or economic benefits. Does my privilege mean God is blessing me? I don’t think so. Most of his blessings are not material. His blessings are the gifts of the Spirit that I experience when I give my privileges to him.
I did not choose to be born into a white, middle-class home. I didn’t pick my parents and siblings. I had no say as to my intelligence or talents. My life was a gift to me before I was born. May I know God loves me no matter how lost I may be in the moment or how successful I become.
For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8:38-39
Prayer
Lord, thank you for revealing to me Godly direction from my most painful experiences. Only you can make me rejoice in my sorrows. Lord, I don’t do well with pain, but only you can draw me closer through it. You replace my bitterness with hope and my sorrows with sweetness. Thank you!
Questions
Think of a time in your life that was painful. Do you still believe God loved you during that time?
What do you think were the lessons that God wanted you to learn?
CS Lewis served in the British military in France during World War I. He was an atheist when he went to war. But, when he came out, despite the carnage and losing most of his platoon battle wounds, the war started his spiritual journey, propelling him towards becoming one of the greatest Christian apologists ever. However, many soldiers who went to battle came back atheists, if not bitter. They presupposed that God did not care about the misery and suffering they had experienced. Why should they believe in a God who appeared to be absent? The question is, why did the war propel Lewis towards Christ, while others were drawn in the opposite direction?
Pain or the absence of it cannot be the foundation of my love for God. If I thank God for the blessings in my life, I must also thank Him for the tragedies that occur. I will know the true character of God when I can love him despite my miserable circumstances or my good times. That doesn’t mean we can’t go to Him with our doubts. But we must look beyond the immediate and see the eternal picture. If not, we will be lost in the immediate and the eternal. Psalm 44 is passionate about God’s love but laments that God has forgotten them. “Lord, why do you sleep?” Yet he acknowledges his “unfailing love.”
We live in a privileged society, and it is difficult for us to grasp the amount of pain most people experience in the world. Due to our affluence, we often have a different perspective on pain. For example, I have had knee, hip, foot, hand, eye, and brain surgery. They were necessary and, voila, I’m better. I thank God for modern medicine and for the ability to have them corrected so effectively. At the same time, I’ve not been shot, I’ve never missed a meal, I own my home and car, I can travel freely, and I can worship any day of the week without reprisal. I am thankful, but my privileges isolate me from most of the rest of the world, who do not have access to medical technology or economic benefits. Does my privilege mean God is blessing me? I don’t think so. Most of his blessings are not material. His blessings are the gifts of the Spirit that I experience when I give my privileges to him.
I did not choose to be born into a white, middle-class home. I didn’t pick my parents and siblings. I had no say as to my intelligence or talents. My life was a gift to me before I was born. May I know God loves me no matter how lost I may be in the moment or how successful I become.
For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8:38-39
Prayer
Lord, thank you for revealing to me Godly direction from my most painful experiences. Only you can make me rejoice in my sorrows. Lord, I don’t do well with pain, but only you can draw me closer through it. You replace my bitterness with hope and my sorrows with sweetness. Thank you!
Questions
Think of a time in your life that was painful. Do you still believe God loved you during that time?
What do you think were the lessons that God wanted you to learn?
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