We Are Not Forsaken
Words by Daniel White, Trowbridge
Taken down by crises, the Spirit filled Truth of Jesus becomes our rallying cry.
The time of worldwide crisis has, unsurprisingly, had its impact on my life.
My wife and children are all fine. We homeschooled before this all started, so from that point of view, we could afford ourselves a little smugness…
But when a friend died, and my sister, with underlying health conditions, got Covid-19… smugness wasn’t an option. She looked a prime candidate to be a gonner. Fast.
And when you’ve handed in your notice at work, back in January, and you can’t land another job, then lockdown… well there’s no smugness there either.
And when you’re also in a rental contract that’s soon to be up for renewal but you can’t afford to renew and you need to move but none of the estate agents are picking up the phone. Well, panic stations could well be the next port of call.
So, on Easter Saturday I was slumped in my room, licking my wounds in the hearing of my wife. I felt abandoned. I felt forgotten by God, and I was making it known.
Now sometimes when these negative thoughts and feelings crop up, I meet them with an obedient and confident, “Back-up in Jesus’ name! You don’t rule here, HE does! I’m not the orphan you say I am. I am a child of God.”
This time, however, none of those noises were coming from my mouth. I was unarmed and in danger. One thing I did do, though, was open my iPad, which was lying on my bed. Reaching for a screen in a moment of despair. Now how likely was that to be the solution to all my troubles?
But the first sight that greeted my eyes was the verse for the day from my Bible app. It was Psalm 22:1
My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
That was it.
I shut the iPad after about a second. I’d seen enough.
I don’t know if I shut it in anger or anticipation. I just shut it.
And then it rushed on me. The realisation and the joy of the realisation at one and the same time, through the Holy Spirit.
My mood changed.
Light shone into the tomb of my heart.
Out stepped this glorious recollection: Jesus cried those words as he hung dying on the cross. He was forsaken by the Father so that I might never be forsaken by the Father.
Now you and I can tell each other that till we’re blue in the face. Jesus was forsaken for you on the cross. If you trust in him, you have the hope of his tomb-vacating resurrection. Eternal life is yours. Resurrection power keeps you and gets you through. Yes, yes, gloriously yes.
But there’s no guaranteeing that any of that truth will be received just by me reminding you, or you reminding me.
But when God the Holy Spirit gets involved, it doesn’t matter if it’s before or after the prayer. If he is involved, then transformation is afoot. Now we’re cooking with tongues of fire!
That’s my story. The Bible contains truth. We say it is God’s word. It is. So now we are talking about Truth with a capital ‘T’. But under the anointing and fresh filling of the Holy Spirit, we know the Truth! And it’s that kind of Truth that we need to know. It’s that kind of Truth that sets us free.
The time of worldwide crisis is still having its impact our lives. But we are not forsaken. He was, so we might not be. Come comfort us, Holy Spirit, in Father’s tender costly love, and in that precious blood-bought way. Truth. Life. Jesus.
Words by Daniel White, Trowbridge
May 13
