When our beloved child, spouse, parent or best friend dies, our devastation and vulnerability often makes us feel that God has indeed ‘abandoned and forsaken us.’ His Promises seemingly conflict with our consuming emotions of confusion or disappointment in God. Maybe even feeling betrayed by Him. Facts, as captured in the Authority of God’s Word, are questioned and challenged by our perception of feeling “Why God, when I need You most, You are nowhere around!” Logic wittingly dictate this conclusion.
However, just because we feel alone, perceive that His Presence is g-o-n-e, does not mean this is true, that it’s indeed a fact. Rather, it is at this spiritual crossroad of doubt vs. faith that we Christians must focus on staying steadfast in the Authority of God’s Promises instead of shaken by our feelings. The root word of steadfast is steady, as in firm, fixed, stable, all of which is the opposite of what we’re feeling!
Dr. James Dobson’s book, When God Doesn’t Make Sense, captures this spiritual challenge in the telling of the story about two disciples of Jesus walking towards the village of Emmaus [pg.48; Luke 24: 13-14]. As they walk, conversing about the crucifixion and death three days earlier, their hope and faith in Christ – including His claim to be the Son of God, the Messiah – seem as dead to these Believers as the fact of His earlier entombed body!
Confused and devastated, I imagine their heads hanging downward as they drag along their dejected spirit. Have we too not felt such spiritual devastation watching our Beloved suffer and die? However, unbeknownst to these disciples, Jesus was walking beside them on that road, listening to their doubts and fears. Yet He knew that they would have an understanding of His faithfulness, thereby removing their doubts and renewing their faith in His Promises! I can hear Jesus thinking “Just hold on!” [See March 2022 Blog: ‘Spiritual Challenges Caused By Loss & Grief‘].
But as Dobson points out, “at that time, however, all they saw were facts that could not be harmonized” with Christ’s words and world view. These disciples, just like us, had “a problem with perception” [pg. 48], confusing feelings as facts. Just like us, these disciples’ feelings became their truth. Just like us, in our humanness, we join together with these disciples and with Jesus himself when He cried out from the cross ‘Why have you forsaken me?’ [Math 27:46]. [Also See, Spiritual Challenge #2: In the Face of Suffering & Loss, Can Faith Be Sustained?].
Christians dealing with devastating loss, Dobson says, “…trudge along in deep thought,” with “…no evidence that Jesus is in their part of the universe. Because they don’t feel His Presence, they cannot believe He cares. Since the facts don’t add-up, they are convinced no reasonable explanation exists. …prayers bring no immediate relief…so [Christians] presume they are not heard” [pg. 48-49].
In my own words, we are human first-&-foremost! Our feelings become the basis for our faith instead of the facts, as in the Authority of God’s Word contained in the scriptures. I am certainly guilty of this!
But Dobson reminds us all, that …”If you find yourself walking along that dusty road to Emmaus…never assume God’s silence or apparent inactivity is evidence of His disinterest” [italics added]. And again, “…His Word is infinitely more reliable” [pg.49] than our emotions!
He promised that “He is a friend who sticks closer than a brother” [Prov. 18:24].
And in Psalm 139:1-2; 7-8, David says of God, “O Lord, Thou hast searched me and known me. Thou dost know when I sit down and when I rise up. Thou dost understand my thoughts from afar.” “ …..Where can I go from your Spirit, where can I flee your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there, if I make my bed in the depths, you are there” [Bold added].
Dobson concludes that “These promises and proclamations remain true even if we have no spiritual feelings whatsoever.” And the last is my favorite from Dobsom: “Cling to that truth with the tenacity of a bulldog!” [pg. 50].
Amen.