God doesn’t GIVE UP

This is the day that the Lord has made, I will rejoice and be glad in it. I hope you will as well.

Have you ever felt like God has forsaken you? Have you ever felt like your prayers aren't getting above the ceiling? If you have felt this way, please understand that you are not alone. Even Jesus felt that way.

Matthew 27:37-47 Above his head they placed the written charge against him: THIS IS JESUS, THE KING OF THE JEWS. (38) Two robbers were crucified with him, one on his right and one on his left. (39) Those who passed by hurled insults at him, shaking their heads (40) and saying, "You who are going to destroy the temple and build it in three days, save yourself! Come down from the cross, if you are the Son of God!" (41) In the same way the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the elders mocked him. (42) "He saved others," they said, "but he can't save himself! He's the King of Israel! Let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him. (43) He trusts in God. Let God rescue him now if he wants him, for he said, 'I am the Son of God.'" (44) In the same way the robbers who were crucified with him also heaped insults on him. (45) From the sixth hour until the ninth hour darkness came over all the land. (46) About the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice, "Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?"—which means, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" (47) When some of those standing there heard this, they said, "He's calling Elijah."

How do I know God is with me? What if this is all a hoax? How do you know that is God who is speaking?

The thick and dreadful darkness of doubt. The same darkness you feel when you sit on a polished pew in a funeral chapel and listen to the obituary of the one you love more than life.

The same darkness that you feel when you hear the words, "The tumor is malignant. We have to operate."

The same darkness that falls upon you when you realize you just lost your temper.. . again.

The same darkness you feel when you realize that the divorce you never wanted is final.

The same darkness into which Jesus screamed, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" Appropriate words. For when we doubt, God seems very far away. Which is exactly why he chose to draw so near.

Listen to some words from Max Lucado about the fact that God NEVER gives up:

Throughout time, though God's people often forgot their God, God didn't forget them. He kept his word. God didn't give up. He never gives up.

When Joseph was dropped into a pit by his own brothers, God didn't give up.

When Moses said, "Here I am, send Aaron," God didn't give up.

When the delivered Israelites wanted Egyptian slavery instead of milk and honey, God didn't give up.

When Aaron was making a false god at the very moment Moses was with the true God, God didn't give up.

When only two of the ten spies thought the Creator was powerful enough to deliver the created, God didn't give up.

When Samson whispered to Delilah, when Saul roared after David, when David schemed against Uriah, God didn't give up.

When God's word lay forgotten and man's idols stood glistening, God didn't give up.

When the children of Israel were taken into captivity God didn't give up.

He could have given up. He could have turned his back. He could have walked away from the wretched mess, but he didn't. He didn't give up.

When he became flesh and was the victim of an assassination attempt before he was two years old, he didn't give up.

When the people from his own home town tried to push him over a cliff; he didn't give up.

When his brothers ridiculed him, he didn't give up.

When he was accused of blaspheming God by people who didn't fear God, he didn't give up.

When Peter worshiped him at the supper and cursed him at the fire, he didn't give up.

When people spat in his face, he didn't spit back. When the bystanders slapped him, he didn't slap them. When a whip ripped his sides, he didn't turn and command the awaiting angels to stuff that whip down that soldier's throat.

And when human hands fastened the divine hands to a cross with spikes, it wasn't the soldiers who held the hands of Jesus steady. It was God who held them steady. For those wounded hands were the same invisible hands that had carried the firepot and the torch two thousand years earlier. They were the same hands that had brought light into Abram's thick and dreadful darkness. They had come to do it again.

So, the next time doubt walks in, escort him out. Out to the hill. Out to Calvary. Out to the cross where, with holy blood, the hand that carried the flame wrote the promise, "God would give up his only son before he'd give up on you." Blessings!

Pastor Rusty