Sermons

Introduction

Let me introduce you to some friends of mine.

Darren is 27 years old. He is a hilarious guy and people enjoy being around him. But few people are aware of the inner torment that Darren hides behind his smile. You see, Darren loves Jesus. And Darren loves men. Everyday his spiritual desires and his physical desires come into conflict. He wants nothing more than to desire God above all. He wants nothing more than to be freed from his homosexual desires. Yet everyday the conflict continues. “How long, Lord,” he cries out. “How long must I wrestle? How long until you set me free from the desires I despise?”

Lynn is 35 years old. She’s thoughtful, she’s great with kids and she’s wholeheartedly devoted to Jesus Christ. Yet Lynn has yet to meet a man who is equally devoted to Jesus and His kingdom. Which means she doesn’t have the husband she so wants to have or the kids she so wants to raise. “How long must I be alone?” she prays. “How long must I be surrounded by people who have what I don’t have?”

There’s Darren, there’s Lynn – and then there’s you. The specifics of their stories are very different from one another. Like Darren and Lynn you sometimes feel that God is distant from you – that he in some way has left you alone, abandoned.

The particulars are different for each of you. Some of you are feeling spiritually dry, weak or bored. You wonder how long.

You have questions that God is not answering. You wonder how long.

You pray prayers that seem to just bounce of the ceiling and go nowhere. You wonder how long.

You’re facing health issues and emotional issues that never seem to go away. You wonder how long.

Your marriage is boring or frustrating or painful. You wonder how long.

You have been abandoned by family, by spouses, by friends – even by pastors. You wonder how long.

And if you’re anything like me you also wonder what the hell you’re supposed to do about it. The answer to that question is found in Psalm 13. Don’t turn there. I want us to walk through it together. In Psalm 13 we find the great king David, a hero of our faith, asking the same questions about the same issue. And his words are inspired by the Holy Spirit and have been preserved by God to guide us through these situations. Let’s read the first two verses together.

Ask the Questions

Can you feel the escalating tension? With each phrase David seems to get more desperate and his cry more intense. Four times he asks, “How long, O Lord.” “How long will you forget me, how long will you hide from me, how long must I have sorrow in my heart, how long will my enemy be exalted over me?” These are not questions for information. These are questions of frustration. Questions of complaint. Much like we do in other situations. When we ask, “How long is it going to rain in July?” we’re not asking for information as much as complaining about how bad the weather has been. When we ask, “How long are you going to be watching that?” we’re not asking for information as much as complaining that someone else has the remote control when we want to watch something else. David’s questions are like that. He’s not seeking information. He’s expressing his grief, his sorrow, his deep-seated frustration. He’s basically questioning God’s character and God’s actions. He’s throwing these complaints in God’s face as if he’s waiting to see what God is going to do with them.

Notice what lies behind each phrase. He begins with the question, “How long, Lord? Will you forget me forever?” Listen carefully to what David is saying. He’s not asking if God has forgotten him. He’s not saying God might have forgotten him. He has already concluded that God, in fact, has forgotten him! The only question is: for how long? What could have brought David, the man after God’s own heart, to such distress? To be honest, we do not know. Scripture doesn’t tell us in what context David prayed this prayer. And in all honesty, I’m glad that Scripture doesn’t tell us the specifics of David’s issue. Because if it did we would read this psalm as a piece of historical literature, just another psalm that David wrote while facing a particular trouble. But by leaving out the specifics of David’s experience, his prayer becomes applicable to anyone and everyone who has ever felt as though God was absent. That includes you. The question isn’t, what was the psalmist’s problem? The question is, what is your problem? The answer is that you, like David, sometimes feel distant from God. And you, like David, need to be honest about it. You, like David, can make these words your prayer. “How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever?”

“How long will you hide your face from me?” This is the second question David asks and the second time that David confronts God about His absence. “Where are you?” It’s clear from David’s prayer that he is greatly concerned about whatever trial he is facing. But it is also clear that he is even more concerned about God’s apparent absence in the midst of it. And you understand that, don’t you? You know suffering. You know trials. You know that these things are always difficult to face. Exceedingly difficult to face. But even worse than having to face the trial is having to face the trial alone. Because there’s something about having someone in the darkness with you, something about having someone going to war with you, something about someone weeping with you that helps you face the worst of the worst. But when there is no one there with you, when you feel like you’re facing the trial alone, oh there is nothing worse. Nothing. In those cases the torment of the trial is nothing compared to the terror of God’s absence. This is why David twice asks God, “Where are you? How long will you hide from me? How long will you forget me?”

In the absence of God’s intervention David’s cry becomes even more desperate. “How long must I wrestle with my thoughts and day after day have sorrow in my heart?” Listen closely to what’s happening here. David is in the midst of a terrible trial and, even worse, he feels like he is facing this trial alone. God is nowhere to be found. God has provided no intervention, no answers. So what is David left to do? He is left to wrestle with his own thoughts and search his sorrow-drenched soul for solutions. You know that feeling, don’t you? And you know how it feels when no answers arrive. Yet no answers arrive. Like David you see no human solution to your suffering. So you are left with nothing but sorrow in his heart – daily. Like David you powerless over your trial and powerless over the enemies you’re facing, they have the upper hand. Like David, there is no solution to your suffering apart from God. But God does not seem to be coming. He has forgotten David. He has forgotten you. He has hidden his face. He is absent.

Make the Requests

So what is David left to do? What are you to do when God feels distant from you? Where are you to turn when God is absent? Silent? Forgetful? You do what David did. You turn to prayer. Listen to David’s prayer. “Look on me and answer, Lord my God.” In other words, I know you have yet to answer me but please answer me! That’s right, when God is forgetful and absent we continue to turn and pray to a non-hearing, forgetful, hiding, and absent God.

It seems ridiculous. But in truth, what else can we do? One possible solution is to respond to God’s absence by rejecting God. Many people have responded in this way. That’s what Ted Turner did. As a little boy he chose to follow Jesus at a Billy Graham crusade. When he was a teenager his younger sister Mary Jane contracted a form of lupus. She suffered terribly day after day and would openly beg for God to let her die so her pain would come to an end. Ted prayed to God for an hour each day, asking Him to heal her body. Yet it was to no avail. Mary Jane suffered and then died. Ted, who had previously planned to be a missionary, rejected God and is now very outspoken about his anger toward Christians and their God. You too can respond to God’s absence by rejecting God. But does that answer your problem? Does that provide healing or hope?

So what can you do? Another possible solution is to respond to God’s absence by pretending we don’t notice. Many Christians do this because they think that to admit they feel abandoned and alone shows that they have no faith. It has become taboo for Christians to doubt, to ask questions, or to admit that they feel distant from God. So when darkness falls many deceive themselves into believing that everything is normal, everything is just fine, and if it’s not everything is going to get better. But does that answer your problem? Does that provide healing or hope?

So what can we do? We can respond to God’s absence by examining ourselves. Perhaps there is sin in our life that is causing God’s absence or distance. This response to God’s absence is justified by Scripture. The ancient Israelites experienced the absence of God and the prophet Isaiah told them this, “Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened that it cannot save, nor his ear heavy that it cannot hear. But your sins have separated you from your God; and your sins have hidden His face from you, so that He will not hear.” (Isaiah 59:1-2). So it is true that there are times that God’s absence is a result of your own sin. That is the most ugly consequences of your sin – that it affects our communion with God. But is that the only reason that God may be distant or absent in your life?

Do you remember Job? If anyone ever experienced the distance or absence of God it was Job. Yet it was not because of his sin. To the contrary, God Himself called Job “a blameless and upright man.” But in the chapters that followed Job experienced loss, pain, suffering and the silence of God like no one else. Throughout the duration of his suffering Job is unaware of why God is absent. He and his three friends debate this question throughout the book. Only the reader knows the truth. We know that God is absent because of a conversation between God and the Devil, not because of Job’s sin.

So after looking at the passage in Isaiah we can conclude that sometimes God’s absence is a result of our sin. And we can conclude from the story of Job that God’s absence is not always a result of our sin. Sometimes, as in the case of Job, it is not for us to know the reasons behind God’s distance. So we find that responding to God’s absence with self-examination is the right place to start, but it is not the right place to finish.

So what do we do when confronted with God’s absence? Rejecting God is not the answer. Pretending we don’t notice is not the answer. Examining ourselves is a good beginning but is insufficient. After examining our lives for sin we are left only to respond as David responded. Through prayer. When God is forgetful and absent we continue to turn and pray to a non-hearing, forgetful, hiding, and absent God. We cry out with David, “Look on me and answer Lord, my God.” And then, like David, we ask for him to change our perspective. “Give light to my eyes,” David prays. Allow me to see what I do not see. Stop hiding from me and show yourself to me. Otherwise I will sleep in death, my enemies will triumph over me, and they will rejoice when I stumble and when I fall. David is saying to God, “unless you show yourself to me all that awaits me is darkness, death, and destruction.” “Give light to my eyes!” He says. Show yourself to me! Stop hiding! Bring your light to the darkness that is overwhelming me.

This is David’s response to God’s absence. He starts by questioning God out of his frustration. Then he cries out to God with requests. Both of these things seem a little strange, don’t they? Who are we to complain to God about his absence? And why would we pray to a God who doesn’t seem to be listening in the first place? But remember, David’s writing is inspired by the Holy Spirit and God preserved this psalm and had it recorded in the Bible to guide us in similar situations. So as strange as David’s response seems you should respond in precisely the same way. When God feels absent in your life go to him and ask, “how long.” Tell him what you’re feeling. Express your frustrations. “How long, Lord? How long until you answer me? How long until you show yourself? How long until you rescue me? How long until you respond to me? How long until this circumstance changes? How long, Lord? How long?” Start there. But don’t stop there. Expressing your frustrations is meaningless if you don’t ask God to do something about it. So move from asking your questions to making your requests. Just as David did. “God, please show yourself to me. Lord, answer my questions. Father, show me that you are with me.”

This is how you should respond in the face of God’s absence. Express your frustration and cry out for help. Ask your questions and make your requests. In fact, I’m going to encourage you to begin that process right now. Take this time to apply what we have talked about to the areas where you feel like God is absent or silent. I’m going to ask everyone to close their eyes for a moment and allow those who want to pray to do so now. We’ll continue our discussion of Psalm 13 in a few moments.

Preach the Gospel

This is a start. This is a good start. But we can’t stop here. If you stop at this point then you will only find peace and joy when you stop feeling like God is absent. But God wants you to have peace and joy even when you feel that he is distant and absent from you. That feeling of distance may last for a day, or a week, or a year or longer. But you can survive it. And you can grow in it. And you can have peace and joy in it. If you do what David did next. Watch how David’s prayer suddenly takes an abrupt turn.

David began his prayer by complaining to God about his absence and mourning God’s distance and inattentive ear. How long, O Lord? Hear me, O Lord! Stop hiding from me, Lord! Then, out of nowhere, David’s thoughts move from complaint to praise, from despair to hope. “But,” he begins, “I trust in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your salvation. I will sing the Lord’s praise, because he has been good to me.” David goes from asking God why he is hiding from him to proclaiming that he trusts in God’s unfailing love. He has gone from complaining of endless sorrow in his heart to announcing that his heart will rejoice in God’s salvation. He began by mourning, he ends by singing. He began by accusing God of forgetting him and ends by declaring that God has been good to him.

Why the about face? The answer lies in David’s prayer. “Look on me and answer, Lord my God. Give light to my eyes!” David feels abandoned and forgotten by an absent God. And David properly voices his lament and his complaint. Yet in all of his anguish David knows that he is not seeing the entire picture. There must be more to see besides the darkness that lies directly before him. This is why he cries out to God, “Give light to my eyes.” A moment later David’s perspective has changed. He has concluded that in the absence of answers God Himself is the answer. When there is no evidence of God’s presence, God’s character is the evidence. David knows enough of God to know that He can be trusted, even when all of the immediate evidence says otherwise. He now has hope even in despair because he knows that God is a God of unfailing love.

As you find yourself groping in the darkness for answers you must remember as David did, God Himself is the answer. When the immediate evidence is inconclusive you must remember what you already know to be true of God. He is a God of unfailing love, a God who saves, a God who is good to you. And then you must do what David did. You must preach that truth to your own soul. You must preach what you know to be true about God to yourself, you must preach what you know to be true about God to your own heart, again and again and again and again every single day.

And here’s the thing. As you do that you’re not just preaching to yourself the concepts of God’s love, and salvation and goodness. You’re preaching to yourself your past experience of God’s love, and salvation and goodness. More than that, you’re preaching to yourself the most glorious, most tangible proof of God’s love, and salvation and goodness. And what is that? It’s the cross of Jesus Christ. It’s on the cross of Jesus Christ that God truly abandoned his own Son so that he would never have to truly abandon you. You were born in sin. You were born at odds with God. You were born loving, trusting and obeying people and things more than you love, trust and obey Jesus. Because of this you separated yourself from him in the truest sense and you deserve to be separated from him for all eternity. But instead of abandoning you, as you deserve, instead of remaining separated from you forever, as you deserve, God became like you and came to you in Jesus Christ. And what did Jesus do for you? Though he was and is absolutely perfect – without sin or flaw in any way – he willingly took your sin and your judgment upon himself. When that happened, on the cross, God the Father turned his back on God the Son and Jesus cried out to heaven, “My God, my God, Why have you forsaken me?”

When Darren, Lynn and Kyreese wonder “how long” this is the answer. When you wonder “how long” this is the answer. Though the Father and the Son had been united together for all of eternity in the most perfect and intimate of unions Jesus willingly allowed this relationship to be cut off. He willingly experienced the pain of true and complete separation from the perfect being, the greatest good, whom he had been united to eternally. Jesus, who was eternally united with God, willingly separated himself from God so that you, who would be eternally separated from God, could be united with him forever. Jesus was abandoned completely so that you could know that even when you feel abandoned you can know that you have not been and will never be. This is a God whose love is unfailing, a God who saves, a God who is good to you. Which is what allowed David’s heart to rejoice even as he mourned.

Conclusion

To feel abandoned by God is painful and real. You may feel that God is distant and absent from you right now. If you feel that way and you are a Christian I encourage you to imitate David’s prayer. First, ask your questions – honestly express your frustration. Second, make your requests – ask God to show himself and answer your prayers. Third, preach the gospel to yourself – remind yourself of who Jesus is and what he has done. As you do so you can be certain that God is not distant from you even if you feel like he is.

On the other hand if you feel that God is distant and absent from you right now and you are not a Christian I encourage you to respond a little differently. You see, the truth is God is distant from you because of your sin. He is distant from you because you have chosen to love and trust and obey people and things more than you love and trust and obey Jesus. In doing that you have made it clear that you don’t want to be close to God. The only way to be close to God is to worship his Son Jesus who lived the perfect life that you have failed to live, died the death of judgment that you deserve to die and rose from the dead to bring you to God. You can’t make God be closer to you by coming to church, or by being a good person, or by meditating or praying or any other such thing. All you can do is rest your faith in Jesus Christ and, if you do that, I can assure you God will not only make himself close to you – he will live in you now and forever. That can happen for you this instant if you stop running from Jesus and turn to him in faith.

Through Jesus Christ the God who seems to be distant is intimately present. Even in the darkest moments of your life. No, scratch that. Especially in the darkest moments of your life. Because he has experienced far darker in your place.