Category Archives: Shirley Logsdon

Abandoned But Never Alone

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Abandoned Alone

https://pixabay.com/en/abandoned-lonely-unwelcome-lost-1251616/

ABANDONED

Have you ever FELT abandoned? Have you ever BEEN abandoned? God has a remedy. I would like us to think about some examples.

EXAMPLES

  1. Personal  To begin with, I felt abandoned when I was 7 years old. My mom got sick and spent time in the hospital. Dad had difficulty caring for me in her absence. My hair fell out because I was so scared. Mom recovered and my hair grew back. Except in one spot where my brown hair turned gray, a reminder of the earlier event in my life.
  2. Scripture: Joseph Let’s look at some examples from Scripture. Joseph might have felt abandoned when his older brothers sold him as a teenager to some traveling merchantmen. They took him away from his home in Canaan and sold him when they arrived at their destination, Egypt. Joseph didn’t see his family again until perhaps 15-20 years later.

In the meantime, Joseph grew up, matured and took on leadership roles. With the gifts God gave him, Joseph learned management skills, first as a slave, then as a prisoner. At age 30 he became the second in command in Egypt. Joseph was ready when a massive, severe drought occurred, affecting several countries. Joseph’s older brothers traveled to Egypt to buy food because the drought affected them in Canaan. Joseph’s whole family ended up relocating from Canaan to Egypt

3. Scripture: Jesus  In our second example from Scripture, at one point in Jesus’ life on earth God abandoned Him. Toward the end of His excruciating six hour ordeal of dying on the cross, “Jesus cried with a loud voice saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? That is to say, My God, My God, Why hast Thou forsaken Me?” (Matthew 27:46).

To explain the background of this heart rending cry of Jesus, we have to understand a little about who God is. God is holy and does not accept sin in His presence. While Jesus lived on earth, He could have sinned but He never did. Falsely accused, He was condemned to die. Innocent in God’s eyes, Jesus willingly took the guilt of our sin on Himself. God used Jesus’ death as a substitute for us. By this we see in the strangest of all mysteries, God had compassion on us humans, sending Jesus to earth to help us. Now we can come to God, not on our own merit, but on the merit of Jesus.

PERSPECTIVE

  1. Joseph   With these examples in mind, Joseph learned to keep God in focus after he came to live in Egypt. Rather than dwell on the wrongs in his past, he chose to live in the present. Toward the end of his 110 year life, he discarded the guilt his older brothers felt. Joseph said to them, “But as for you, ye thought evil against me, but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive” (Genesis 50:20).
  2.  Jesus  The author of Hebrews said about Jesus our hero: “Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith: who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God” (Hebrews 12:2).
  3. Every fellow believer  In whatever circumstances you find yourself today, dear one, look up and embrace Jesus as your hero. How to do this? “Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me” (Hebrews 13:5-6).

Shirley Logsdon

Further reading:

https://www.treadingwatertiljesuscomes.com/2018/07/31/no-matter-what-you-go-through/