Where in the world is God? When friends desert you?

Sermon for Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Where in the world is God…when friends desert you?

A taunting question from others. A gnawing question within us.

Text: Mark 14:50 Then everyone deserted him and fled.

 

My dear friends in Christ,

Jesus was alone. That one word best describes the last 12 hours of Jesus’ life. It began with a prediction. Jesus was sitting at the table with his closest friends. He looked around the table and said, "But a time is coming, and has come, when you will be scattered, each to his own home. You will leave me all alone" (John 16:32). Jesus knew what was going to happen—that ugly word, “alone.” It was something that the LORD had predicted about 400 years earlier through the Prophet Zechariah. “Strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered" (Zechariah 13:7).

Alone. Jesus wasn’t alone as he left the upper room and climbed the Mount of Olives. His disciples went with him. Jesus took three of them, Peter, James and John deeper into the garden to pray. The busy day of preparations for the Passover and a late meal took their toll on the men. Instead of staying awake and praying with him, his closest friends fell asleep. Alone.

Judas led the soldiers to Jesus and betrayed him with a kiss. Alone. Even one of his own disciples turned against him. What about the rest? When they saw that the soldiers had Jesus in custody, Mark tells us, "Then everyone deserted him and fled" (Mark 14:50). Completely and utterly alone!

Alone. Jesus was alone at a time when most people don’t want to be alone—as they face death. The leaders of the Jews taunted him as he hung there, all alone. “He saved others 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. He trusts in God. Let God rescue him now if he wants him, for he said, ‘I am the Son of God’” (Matthew 27:41-43). Can’t you hear the question in their taunts? Where is God when your friends have deserted you? Where is he when everyone has deserted you? Jesus not only heard that question tossed out by the unbelieving world, he asked the gnawing question himself: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” Jesus’ absolute loneliness as the lightning rod for God’s wrath left him completely and utterly abandoned.

The Father had been preparing Jesus for that loneliness since the beginning of his ministry. God the Father spoke to Jesus at his baptism, “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased” (Mark 1:11). Jesus heard his Father’s approval one more time, on the Mount of Transfiguration. “This is my Son, whom I love. Listen to him!” (Mark 9:7).

Jesus took his Father’s words to heart. When he predicted that everyone would desert him and leave him all alone, he also told the disciples, “Yet I am not alone, for my Father is with me” (John 16:32). Jesus knew that he would never be alone. Even as his Father turned his back on the sins of the world, he would not forget his Son. Do you remember the final words Jesus spoke from the cross? “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit” (Luke 23:46). Jesus knew that his Father would be waiting at the gates of heaven with open arms! Even though it looked like Jesus was deserted and alone, God had been there every step of the way.

Jesus had to deal with loneliness. So do we.

It seems like we’re missing some of the support Jesus had. We can’t knock on heaven’s door and ask for a face to face interview. We haven’t heard the Father’s voice speak so lovingly from heaven about us. In fact, it’s all too easy to tell ourselves that we are all alone, and life is empty and hopeless. We aren’t the only ones that feel that way. I looked up some statistics on suicide today. I learned that:

•      1.3% of all deaths are from suicide.

•      On average, someone attempts suicide every 40 seconds in the U.S.

•      On average, one suicide occurs every 16 minutes.

•      Each suicide intimately affects at least 6 other people.

•      On average, one out of 64 Americans are suicide survivors.

People contemplate suicide when they feel like their friends have abandoned them. They ask where God is and why he has deserted them too, and when they don’t find an answer it can lead to despair.

Loneliness isn’t new, or limited to people who don’t know the Lord. Many believers throughout the ages have felt alone. Job complained, "He has alienated my brothers from me; my acquaintances are completely estranged from me" (Job 19:13). He felt God had abandoned him and left him all alone. King David struggled with loneliness, too, even with soldiers around to protect him and advisors to guide him. He cried out to God, "Turn to me and be gracious to me, for I am lonely and afflicted. The troubles of my heart have multiplied; free me from my anguish" (Psalm 25:16-17). The apostle Paul felt abandoned as he faced the end of his life. He was in prison—a hole in the ground with only one way in and out—and he wrote, "At my first defense, no one came to my support, but everyone deserted me. May it not be held against them" (2 Timothy 4:16).

These three men struggled. The world asked, “Where is your God? Everyone has deserted you! He doesn’t love you!” Their own hearts asked the question, “Where is my God? I feel so alone!

Where is God? Why does he hide from us? Why does it seem like we’re so alone?

Where is God? The only place to find the answer is where God revealed himself to us—in his Word. There he is! He brought the universe into existence by saying, “Let there be,” and it was!

Where is God? There he is! The Word shows us the holiness and glory of the LORD as he appeared to Moses on the top of Mt. Sinai.

Where is God? There he is! We see a tiny, gurgling baby whose name is Jesus—“Savior.” God loved us so much that he wanted to live and walk and talk with us! He spent his time on earth doing everything perfectly for us. He performed miracles to prove that he is God. He preached and taught—bringing the Word to everyone he met. He loved and laughed and wept and slept, just like the rest of us. He came so that we can see God!

Don’t forget the sacrifice he made. He went to the cross all alone so that he could pay for our sins and give us the perfect life he lived. He was alone so we wouldn’t have to be!

Does that help us figure out where God is? He wants us to see him in his Word. It’s still tough to answer the question, because we still feel alone. I’d like to share a video clip that asks our question, and offers us a powerful answer.

You and I aren’t alone, ever. When we’re tempted to give up all hope, don’t forget how carefully our Father made us. We are precious in his sight.

Even though Job felt alone, knew that God was still there: "I know that my Redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God; I myself will see him with my own eyes—I, and not another. How my heart yearns within me!" (Job 19:25-27). David pushed away loneliness with God’s precious promise: "The LORD Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress” (Psalm 46:11). Paul had this confidence, "The Lord will rescue me from every evil attack and will bring me safely to his heavenly kingdom. To him be glory for ever and ever. Amen" (2 Timothy 4:18). Don’t forget the promise that Jesus made: “And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age” (Matthew 28:20).

Where is God when our friends desert us? Right here. Right now. Always! Amen.

 

To God alone the glory!          Pastor Jon Brohn