"Don't Worry, He Hasn't Gone Anywhere"

Think of the abandonment issues we have in society.

Spouses walking out on each other.

Children being abandoned to shelters.

Even our animal rescue societies are overloaded.

Think as well of the excuses.

"I just don't love her anymore."

"The animals were ruining my furniture."

I can't even fathom the excuse that was used to stuff a newborn down a storm drain the other day.

How about this one:

"Oh God, what have I done to deserve this?"

That's generic blame shift #397, which says basically, "I screwed my life up, but I don't want to accept the responsibility, so I'll conveniently blame the only One who can really help."

It's old. I mean Genesis Chapter 3 old. And that's really old.

There's a bunch of old ones. How about this one:

"I called out to God, and I prayed and prayed, but He didn't answer."

Well...let's not beat that horse too badly.

Let's get to the truth and the solution.

The truth is that God never leaves us. Period. He is always there.

Equally true is the fact that at times, we feel He has left us or is very far away.

The solution is to believe the truth and not our faulty perceptions.

Think about it. Generally it's not an initial feeling of abandonment that cause our anxiety over God not being there.

It's generally a slow buildup of life's challenges over time that overcome us.

But in truth, when we look honestly at the situation, we would find that we had not been spending the time all along the way cultivating our relationship with God as we should have been.

The phenomena that occurs here is that it is always us abandoning God. Not vice versa.

Our coping mechanism, as was Adam and Eve's, is to blame the One who has stuck closer than a brother through it all.

David found it out, and wrote it down in Psalm 23:4 (Amplified Bible):

"Yes, though I walk through the [deep, sunless] valley of the shadow of death, I will fear or dread no evil, for You are with me; Your rod [to protect] and Your staff [to guide], they comfort me."

Three things we need desperately in life that God fulfills.

We need to know we are safe and protected. We need to be guided in life issues. We need to be comforted.

We need them from birth to the earth. From the cradle to the grave.

And our God provides them. Always. Never a gap. Never faltering.

Yet, we spit in God's face and try to tell Him it's raining.

So, the solution.

James says in James 4:8:

"Come close to God and He will come close to you. [Recognize that you are] sinners, get your soiled hands clean; [realize that you have been disloyal] wavering individuals with divided interests, and purify your hearts [of your spiritual adultery]."

It's tough. It's not sugar coated. It bites a little.

But it's just God saying to come clean on the issue. Be honest. Face the situation and issues.

Don't blame God. Embrace Him! Walk...no...RUN toward Him, not away from Him!

That's my prayer for you today. Put your life... spirit, soul, and body into your relationship with Him and you will always have the sense of His loving, protective, guiding, comforting Presence with you. Always.

I love you all today. More importantly, so does Jesus.

Run it all past Him first!

Keepin' it Real,

Pastor Kevin <><