There are times in our walk with God that it will appear as if He has abandoned us.
Where once there was joy and peace and confidence, we will find disillusion, angst and questions.
We will know logically that God has not abandoned us but there will be a real feeling that we have suddenly been thrown out of the house of God and that we are walking through the world on our own.
This is something that is talked about extensively in The Bible. It is what David was experiencing as he fled Israel, was hiding in caves from those who were trying to kill him and wrote in Psalm 13:
"O LORD, how long will you forget me? Forever? How long will you look the other way?"
We have access to the entire story of David. We know that God had not forgotten David, that He had not looked the other way even for a second. I'm sure that David knew this logically as well, but David was expressing something that all of us as Christians will go through.
I believe it is summed up in 2 Corinthians 4:10-11
We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. / For we who are alive are always consigned to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our mortal body.
No one, no matter how strong or how sure they are, welcomes death.
They may welcome what comes AFTER death, but no one welcomes the process of dying.
It is a painful experience.
God understands this.
Jesus experienced it first hand.
Jesus overcame death and now holds it in His hand. He is able to use death for His purpose.
One of the ways He uses death is talked about in Romans 8:13
"For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live."
I believe that in these moments where it feels that God has left us, He is giving us an opportunity to walk in this principle.
When you suddenly find yourself in this valley, you will see parts of your flesh that are normally hidden.
You will see fear and anger. you will see doubt and unfaithfulness. You will see weakness.
Jesus said "the Spirit is willing but the flesh is weak"
The flesh, in these moments, will do everything it can to escape. Like an animal caught in a snare, it will do anything it can to survive.
If God chooses, by His grace, to allow you to see this situation through spirtual eyes, you will see what He is trying to acomplish.
He is bringing to light the hidden parts of your flesh.
He HAS caught them in a snare, and He is holding them up and showing you what they really are.
This is the moment where you are given an opportunity to, by The Spirit, put to death the deeds of the body.
It’s not by willpower. It's not by positive thinking or rationalizing.
It is a messy, painful experience.
It is by not turning your face away from the situation but rather sitting in it and offering it to God that you are allowing Him to uproot these parts of you that you do not normally see.
This is very difficult to do.
God understands this.
God loves us enough to keep pushing us toward these experiences even though they are painful.
Just like a father, who's child comes to him with a splinter, knows that the experience of uprooting it will be painful, continues on. The temporary pain, no matter how beyond comprehinson it is for the child, is worth the result of true health.
Next time you are in this situation, instead of pleading with God to remove you out of it, i pray that He gives you spiritual eyes to see it for what it is.
then you will say like the psalmist "Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning."