Abandonment is a terrible feeling. If you’ve ever felt deserted, betrayed, or ignored by family, friends or others, you know how it feels. We become angry and bitter toward those who abandon us in any way and it’s a terrible battle. Ask Julian Lennon. “He was a hypocrite. Dad could talk about peace and love out loud to the world, but he could not show it to the people who supposedly meant the most to him: his wife and son,” said Julian Lennon, who was abandoned at age five by his father, Beatle John Lennon. “How can you talk about peace and love and have a family in bits and pieces—no communication, adultery, divorce? You can’t do it, not if you’re being true and honest with yourself.”
Psalm 22 begins with the words that Jesus, God’s son, quoted from the cross. “My God, My God, Why have you abandoned me?” This is the Father who spoke from the sky, “This is My Beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” But Jesus abandonment was for a purpose. He paid the penalty for our sin of abandoning God. Hosea is the story of God, the faithful husband, always beckoning you and me to come home to Him, even when we’ve abandoned him over and over. Christ was abandoned by the father to be the perfect sacrifice for our sins. Just before He died, Jesus made two more statements. First, he said “It is finished,” meaning that the payment had been completed. But Jesus’ last words on the cross were “into your hands (Father), I commend my spirit.” He understood God’s purpose had to be accomplished and he submitted to God’s will always knowing that God had not ultimately abandoned him. Although abandoned on the cross for our sin, He was not abandoned to the grave, but was raised as we celebrated earlier this month, and now sits, reunited with the father.
J. I. Packer said, “He (God) never abandons anyone on whom he has set his love. If you have been resigning yourself to the thought that God has left you high and dry, seek grace to be ashamed of yourself. Such unbelieving pessimism deeply dishonors our great God and Savior.”
Chuck
“The heavens proclaim the glory of God. The skies display his craftsmanship. Day after day they continue to speak; night after night they make him known.” (Psalm 19:1-2)