Where Did He Go?

Isaiah 63:15 - Lord, look down from Heaven; look from Your holy, glorious home, and see us.  Where is the passion and the might You used to show on our behalf?  Where are Your mercy and compassion now?

In this prayer for mercy and compassion, God's people feel abandoned by Him.  They are questioning where He went when they needed Him the most.

The truth is, He never left them.  They turned from Him because they believed that they were doing just fine on their own.  Their worship of false gods hardened their hearts to the only God who did and could save them.  They still offered their usual sacrifices and celebrated the appointed festivals, but that's not what God wants.  God wanted their hearts.  He wanted them to turn away from those false gods that made their hearts stubborn.

That's what He wants from all of us.  We sit and wonder where did He go?  He didn't go anywhere.  He's just waiting on us.  The Apostle Peter (my personal favorite) tells us that God isn't being slow about His promise as we might think.  He's being patient because He doesn't want anyone to be destroyed (2 Peter 3:9).  That's a hard one to take sometimes.

I have caught myself from time to time wondering where He is.  I have caught my mind drifting and questioning what is taking Him so long to fulfill His promise to me.  I sit and pray and say things like, "I've been faithful going to church.  I've been faithful in my prayer.  I've been faithful in my tithing.  Why haven't You been faithful to get rid of my problems?!"  He isn't ignoring me.  My heart just isn't in the right place when I pray like that.  And that's what He wants - my heart.  All of our hearts.

When I pray like that, it's the enemy creeping in and trying to convince me that I have been abandoned.  And there have been times where I almost believed the lie and turned away for good.  That's one of the side effects of being human.  Sometimes it's very easy to convince ourselves that the emotions we are feeling in the moment are true facts for all moments.  They aren't.  When I feel that lie creeping in, I have to stop and remind myself that it's just a lie.  I have to cast out that lie in the name of Jesus Christ, my Lord and Savior, and the enemy will flee (James 4:7).

I have to remember that when I may be going through a difficult season, that God hasn't abandoned me.  He's molding me like clay.  When I trust Him and His plan for me, and submit myself to it, He will mold and shape me into what He wants me to be.

He didn't go anywhere.  He's right beside us the whole time.

Dear Abba Father, thank You for being there with me through everything.  Thank You for not abandoning me, as You have always promised, despite my unbelief sometimes.  Father work on my heart.  I don't want to ever doubt Your love and mercy and compassion for me.  I want You to mold me into whatever You want, so that I can serve You.  I pray for those that have struggled with believing the lie as I have.  My prayer is that they will see it for what it is, and turn away from it.  I pray that they will turn their hearts over to You to be molded as well.  I thank You for the patience You have shown us all because of Your great love and compassion and mercy for us.  I pray this in Jesus' name, Amen!



God Bless!!!