Who cares about Me? -
God cares about You
The Bible's message of comfort for a lonely world
This
crowded world can be a lonely place. As life gets faster and noisier, and
communication ever easier, it can be more and more difficult to find someone to
talk to.
Some people feel themselves cut off from society, perhaps because for
some reason they don't quite fit. Others become stranded after the death of
loved ones or a family break-up. Or isolated by a problem or illness that nobody
else understands.
It is a
great comfort to know that there is someone who not only cares, but understands,
completely - and can help, and will help. That someone is God, of course.
The lord also will be a refuge for the oppressed, A refuge in
times of trouble. And those who know your name will put their trust in you; For
you, lord, have not forsaken those
who seek you. Psalm 9:9-10
Three
basic facts about us
First of
all, we need to get one basic fact straight. Here are words from another Psalm,
in which the writer muses about God:
Where
can I go from your Spirit? Or where can I flee from your presence? If I ascend
into heaven, you are there; If I make my bed in hell, behold, you are there. If
I take the wings of the morning, And dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,
Even there your hand shall lead me, And your right hand shall hold me. (Psalm
139:7-10)
God is
everywhere. In the Bible there are accounts of people who tried desperately to
run away from God, but couldn't (for example Jonah, whose story is in the Book
of Jonah). For those who would rather live their lives without God, this may be
an unpleasant thought. But for the rest of us, it should be a great comfort.
This is how Jesus looked at it:
'Are
not five sparrows sold for two copper coins? And not one of them is forgotten
before God. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Do not fear
therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows." (Luke 12:6-7)
But it's
very easy to say "It's OK, God loves me." It's not always so easy to
be convinced of it. Why not? What's wrong? Surely if God really cares for us, he
should show it... Actually, that's the wrong attitude to have.
We need
to take a step back, and look at our lives from God's point of view.
Three
basic facts about us
กก
Why are
we here? If God created the heavens and the earth, as the Bible says he did, why
did he do it? Let's look at some Bible passages that tell us.
Paul was
a Christian in the First Century AD, a dynamic teacher who travelled the Roman
empire preaching Christianity. One day he found himself in the Greek city of
Athens, and was amazed at the host of shrines and temples in the city - they
made shrines to every god they could think of, and more besides (just to be on
the safe side). Paul stood up and proclaimed to the Athenians that they'd got it
wrong, there is only one God.
"God, who made the
world and everything in it, since he is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell
in temples made with hands. Nor is he worshipped with men's hands, as though he
needed anything, since he gives to all life, and breath, and all things. And he
has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the
earth ... so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope
for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us." (Acts
17:24-27)
Why did
God create us? So that we should seek him, and find him. He wants to have a
relationship with us.
Here is
another passage. It's a song of praise to God, recorded in the book of
Revelation:
"You are worthy, O
Lord, To receive glory and honour and power; For you created all things, And by
your will they exist and were created." (Revelation 4:11)
God
created the heavens and the earth, and us, in order to give him 'glory and
honour and power'.
And
another verse, this time from a Psalm:
The
lord takes pleasure in those who
fear him. (Psalm 147:11)
Why did
God create us? Here are three reasons:
•
To come to know him
•
To praise him
•
To give him pleasure.
So,
rather than thinking "If God cares for me, why doesn't he show it?" we
ought to be thinking "If God has given me life itself and all the other
blessings I enjoy, what am I giving him in return?" This change in attitude
can make a tremendous difference in our lives. It can be the first step towards
finding God, and all the blessings which follow.
Let's
now have a look at what God wants us to do with our lives.
The book
of Ecclesiastes opens with a startling declaration:
The words of the Preacher,
the son of David, king in Jerusalem. "Vanity of vanities," says the
Preacher; "Vanity of vanities, all is vanity." (Ecclesiastes 1:1-2)
Vanity -
or futility, or nonsense, or meaninglessness. Everything is vanity!
The
'Preacher' who wrote the book of Ecclesiastes was probably Solomon, the king of
Israel at that nation's height of power and glory, around 1000 BC. The Bible, in
the first chapters of the First Book of Kings, explains how God gave to Solomon
wisdom above anyone else alive, and also fabulous riches. It tells how at the
start of his reign he was a good and God-fearing king, but as time went on he
went 'off the rails', and became greedy and cruel and forsook God. It may be
that the book of Ecclesiastes was written at the end of his lifetime, as he
looked back and learned from all his mistakes. His verdict: "All is
vanity."
He had
applied himself to study and research (chapter 1 verse 13); to having a good
time (2 verse 1); to drink (verse 3); to great building projects (verse 4); to
acquiring beautiful possessions (verse 8). He stopped at nothing in his pursuit
of happiness and fulfilment. His approach to life was remarkably similar to that
of many people today:
Whatever my eyes desired I
did not keep from them. I did not withhold my heart from any pleasure, For my
heart rejoiced in all my labour; And this was my reward from all my labour.
(Ecclesiastes 2:10)
But
somehow, it just didn't deliver what he was looking for. One day he stood back
and took stock:
Then I looked on all the
works that my hands had done And on the labour in which I had toiled; And indeed
all was vanity and grasping for the wind. There was no profit under the sun.
(Ecclesiastes 2:11)
How many
people today devote themselves to the pursuit of happiness and fulfilment in
just the way the Preacher did. If only they would read his wise words, they'd
save themselves a lot of trouble!
The
Preacher is telling us a fundamental fact about human existence: life without
God is empty. This is a constant theme throughout the Bible.
Look at
it like this: God designed us in a certain way. There is a right way and a wrong
way to use these precious lives God has given us. If you go out and buy yourself
a stereo system or a washing machine, you'll receive with it a set of
instructions which tell you how to get the best use out of it. The instructions
are written by the people who made the appliance, and therefore you can trust
that they know what they're talking about. It's the same with us - we were
designed to function in a certain way. We are given instructions (in the Bible)
which explain how to get the best use out of our lives. We can ignore the
instructions, but if we do we shouldn't be surprised if our lives fail to
function properly, or break down.
So what
does God tell us is the best way to get true enjoyment and fulfilment out of
life? The Bible is full of guidance. This is the Preacher's conclusion:
Fear God and keep his
commandments, For this is the whole duty of man. (Ecclesiastes 12:13)
It's a
great shame that so many people today have the wrong idea about what it is to be
a Christian. They think that it's all about obeying difficult commandments and
being forbidden to do anything that might be fun. They're wrong! Yes, some
things are forbidden by God - things that are destructive or unhealthy or
selfish. And some things are required by him - disciplines and attitudes that
are healthy for us and good for others. Christianity is a wholesome and
enjoyable way of life. And as we'll see shortly, it's about far more than just
this life here and now ...
What have
we seen so far? God knows us, each one of us, and he cares about us. He wants us
to draw close to him and enter a relationship with him. He has designed us in
such a way that we will only ever find true fulfilment in life when we are in
this relationship with him.
There
are some people who seem to go through life thinking always of others. As well
as making the world a warmer place for everybody else, they tend to be very
happy people.
The
Bible spells out for us what we all know:
"Give, and it will be
given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will
be put into your bosom. For with the same measure that you use, it will be
measured back to you." (Luke 6:38)
Those
are words of the Lord Jesus - and he, above anybody else, was an example of
someone who devoted himself to giving.
Just one
episode from his life. It was the occasion of the miraculous feeding of five
thousand people, and you can read it in Mark's Gospel chapter 6, beginning at
verse 30. It was a hectic time in Jesus' life - he and his disciples were worn
out with their preaching work, his fame was spreading far and wide and people
were flocking to him to hear him teach and to be healed of diseases.
In order
to get some time to rest and talk together, Jesus and the disciples got into a
boat and fled across Lake Galilee. But the crowds saw them go, figured where
they were headed and made their way around by the shore. When the boat came to
land, with its exhausted occupants looking forward to some peace and quiet,
there was the crowd waiting to meet them.
You
might have forgiven Jesus for saying, "Look come back tomorrow - I need a
meal, I need some sleep, I can't go on like this." But instead, when he saw
the crowds, 'he was moved with compassion for them, because they were like sheep
not having a shepherd.' So he settled down, and spent the whole day teaching and
healing.
Finally,
as evening drew on, his disciples came to him and pleaded with him to send the
crowds away. But he wouldn't send them away until he'd fed them. That's the
background to one of the most marvellous miracles of sharing and giving, the
Feeding of the Five Thousand.
To be a
Christian is to be a follower of Jesus Christ. What a better place the world
would be if more people were more like him! He is the perfect role model. But is
this all that Christianity is - being good to people? May we suggest that it is
not. A relationship with God is more than this.
Somebody
once asked Jesus what is the most important rule to follow in life. Jesus
replied with two important rules, one which was most important and one which
came next. He quoted two verses from the Bible. (The Bible at that time wasn't
the Bible as we know it, of course. If you look at your Bible you'll see that
it's divided into two sections, the Old Testament and the New Testament. The New
Testament hadn't been written in Jesus' time; the Bible he used was the Old
Testament.) These are the two commandments he quoted:
'"You
shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with
all your mind.' This is the first commandment. And the second is like it:
"You shall love your neighbour as yourself." (Matthew 22:37-39)
'Love
your neighbour' is a famous saying. Like many quotes from the Bible, it's just
passed into our language and many people don't realise where it's from.
Everybody agrees it's an excellent rule to live by. What we should remember is
that it was originally a secondary commandment. The first commandment is to love
God.
It's
like a building. A building needs a foundation to stand on, if it doesn't have a
foundation it's likely to fall down sooner or later. The first commandment is
the foundation; the second commandment is the building which stands on it.
People
have developed various philosophies over the years, which seek to get men to
live in peace and harmony with each other. Many of these philosophies are based
on Humanism, a system of thought which denies the existence of God. These
philosophies do not work, and the societies that are built on them collapse.
(Witness the demise of Communism in Europe in the last century, for example.)
Why do they not work? Because they're trying to construct the building without
the foundation.
What
must come first is love for God. This is not difficult, when we consider how
much God loves us, and what he has done for us:
"For
God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes
in him should not perish but have everlasting life." (John 3:16)
That's
how much God loves us - he gave his only son to die for us.
This is
the foundation of the Christian life: God's love for us. It is amazing,
beautiful and beyond our understanding. God so loved us that he gave his only
son, his beloved son Jesus Christ, to die for us to save us from our sins. Jesus
Christ so loved us that he willingly gave his life for us. When we fully
appreciate what has been done for us, we cannot help but respond with love for
God and his son. And this is a love that must naturally extend to others. This
is 'love for your neighbour' which has a foundation.
If you'd
like to look these up, Jesus was quoting Deuteronomy 6:5 and Leviticus 19:18.
The love
and mutual care that exists (or should exist) within a Christian community is
something beyond the experience of most people.
The
apostle Paul wrote a number of letters to different Christian churches, which
are preserved in our New Testament. In many of these letters he spells out how
Christian love should work in everyday life. For example:
Let nothing be done
through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem
others better than himself. Let each of you look out not only for his own
interests, but also for the interests of others. (Philippians 2:3-4)
It is a
love which is firmly based on the love God first showed to us:
Be kind to one another,
tender-hearted, forgiving one another, just as God in Christ also forgave you.
(Ephesians 4:32)
As we go
on, and consider some examples of how the Bible offers comfort in various
circumstances of loneliness, we have to stress that this comfort is completely
meaningful only for those who have taken the step of entering a relationship
with God - for those who can call themselves 'friends' of Jesus.
Only his
friends know the true depths of his love. These are his words:
"This is my
commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no
one than this, to lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends, if you
do whatever I command you." (John 15:12-14)
Jesus
showed his love by laying down his life for his friends. His friends must show
that same love to each other. His friends are those who obey his commandments.
What have we seen so far? Life
without God is vain and meaningless, and it will be ultimately unsatisfying.
Jesus Christ showed us how we should live - he devoted his life to God.
If we are to follow Jesus, our lives
must be devoted to God like his was. This involves obeying Jesus' commandments.
This is really the subject of other booklets, but suffice it to say here that it
involves:
• believing the things God has
told us about himself
• admitting that we are sinners
and naturally rebellious against God
• repenting of our sins
• being baptised
• then trying to lead a new
life, in obedience to God.
This is what it means to be a
Christian.
For the remainder of this booklet
we'll look how the love of God works in practice. We'll look at a number of
different causes of a feeling of loneliness, and we'll see the comfort that true
Christianity brings in each case.
There
are few things that can isolate someone so much as a sense of guilt. We all mess
up from time to time, and sometimes we mess up very badly.
Here's a
consolation: whatever appalling thing you might do, you will probably never get
close to what King David did.
King
David, we're told in the Bible, was 'a man after God's own heart' - a man God
loved very much. This was despite an enormous sin that David committed. The
account of it is in the Second book of Samuel chapter 11.
David
had everything he could possibly want. But we're never satisfied however much we
have. One day David took a fancy to the wife of one of his officers. He had an
affair with her, while her husband was away at war. When she discovered she was
pregnant, he got scared. He arranged to have her husband killed in battle, then
married her himself. Adultery, and murder!
For a
while he kept the sordid affair secret, and he endured an agony of guilt. Then
the truth came out. Psalm 51 was written at this time. It is a song of
repentance, and also of relief that his hiding and denial is over:
Have mercy upon me, O God,
According to your loving-kindness; According to the multitude of your tender
mercies, Blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, And
cleanse me from my sin. For I acknowledge my transgressions, And my sin is ever
before me. Against you, you only have I sinned, And done this evil in your sight
(Psalm 51:1-4)
Notice a
crucial and surprising point: as far as David was concerned, his sin was
'against God, and God only' - not Bathsheba, the woman he had humiliated, or
even Uriah the man he had killed. Of course, it was terrible what he had done to
them, but what really mattered was that he had sinned against God. And that was
the key to the healing of his tortured mind.
People
can be unforgiving. God is always prepared to forgive. When we recognise that
whatever sins we commit, however foul, they are primarily sins against God, we
are on the way to peace of mind - because God has assured us that as soon as we
repent, as soon as we tell him we are sorry, he will forgive and forget -
completely.
For as the heavens are
high above the earth, So great is his mercy towards those who fear him; As far
as the east is from the west, So far has he removed our transgressions from us.
As a father pities his children, So the lord
pities those who fear him. For he knows our frame; He remembers that we
are dust. (Psalm 103:11-14)
But we
still have to live amongst people, don't we. And they're not always as forgiving
as God.
Jesus
told a parable, which you can read in Matthew 18 verses 21 onwards. It's the
story of a king who had a servant who owed him 'ten thousand talents' - a
colossal sum, running into millions of pounds in today's money. There was no way
he could possibly repay the debt, so the king had compassion on him and wrote
off the debt. The servant promptly went out and found a friend who owed him a
few pence. The friend begged for time to pay, but he refused and had him thrown
into prison until it was paid. When the king got to hear about this heartless
behaviour he summoned the man, reinstated his old debt and had him thrown into
prison until it was paid.
The
parable is a story about real life. The king is God. The man with the huge debt
is us, every one of us - we are all sinners and faced with an impossible debt to
God. Anything that our fellow humans can do to us, by comparison, is so small as
to be not worth thinking about. God is willing to forgive us our debt, and he
commands that we forgive each other. If we don't forgive others, God will not
forgive us.
So if
ever we should feel cut off from people by a sense of guilt, remember: our sin,
whatever it is, is against God. He is a/ways prepared to forgive. If others are
not prepared to forgive, it's their problem, not ours!
Throughout
our society, relationships are disintegrating at an alarming rate. The number of
households with only a single adult is multiplying. We all know the harm that
family break-ups do to all concerned, especially any children. What comfort is
there in such situations? Actually there is much comfort.
Jesus knew what it was like to be separated from his family: we're told that his brothers and sisters did not believe in him, and it caused friction. There was one occasion when they decided it had all gone too far, and they decided it needed to stop. This is recorded in Mark chapter 3:
And the multitude came
together again, so that they could not so much as eat bread. But when his own
people heard about this, they went out to lay hold of him, for they said,
"He is out of his mind." (Mark 3:20-21)
Jesus
always had other people's interests at heart, and he cared for his own family as
much as anyone else - but later in this chapter he said a remarkable thing.
Then
his brothers and his mother came, and standing outside they sent to him, calling
him. And a multitude was sitting around him; and they said to him, "Look,
your mother and your brothers are outside seeking you." But he answered
them, saying, "Who is my mother, or my brothers?" And he looked around
in a circle at those who sat about him, and said, "Here are my mother and
my brothers! For whoever does the will of God is my brother and my sister and
mother." (Mark 3:31-35)
The
Bible often uses the language of the family, when it talks about the community
of believers. We are called the 'household of faith', the 'children of God'. All
true Christians are members of this worldwide family - the unmarried, separated,
widowed, orphaned, everyone.
And as
in ordinary families, members have a responsibility to look out for problems and
help each other - so it is in Christ's family.
Paul
uses another picture to describe the family: think of it, he says, as a human
body.
For as the body is one and
has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one
body, so also is Christ. (1 Corinthians 12:12)
We are
all parts of the body - some are feet, some are hands, some are eyes ... we're
all different, we have different talents and different roles to play in the big
family, but we all belong. And, naturally, we're all very important.
And if one member suffers,
all the members suffer with it; or if one member is honoured, all the members
rejoice with it. (1 Corinthians 12:26)
When you
stub your toe, you feel pain, your whole body is alerted. You hop about and
clutch your foot and sit down and nurse it, and you don't think of anything else
until the distress is over. That's how it should be in the body of Christ. When
the body is working properly, all its members are alert and sensitive to any
other members that might be suffering, either in body or in mind. And if
problems occur, we should never be slow to offer comfort and help.
Jesus
had some very dear friends, a man called Lazarus and his two sisters, Martha and
Mary. They lived in a place called Bethany just outside Jerusalem. Jesus and his
disciples would often stay with them when they visited Jerusalem.
John
chapter 11 tells how one day Lazarus fell desperately sick. The distraught
family sent for Jesus. Strangely, Jesus did not respond straight away - he
delayed a few days, then he said to his disciples,
"Our friend Lazarus
sleeps, but I go that I may wake him up." Then his disciples said,
"Lord, if he sleeps, he will get well." However, Jesus spoke of his
death. (John
11:11-13)
Jesus
knew what they didn't know - Lazarus had died. He had delayed going to Bethany
in order to show them a marvellous thing: as far as God is concerned, death is
just sleep. You fall asleep, you can be woken up again.
They
arrived in Bethany and were met by a scene of mourning. Martha went to meet
them:
Then Martha said to Jesus,
"Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I
know that whatever you ask of God, God will give you." Jesus said to her,
"Your brother will rise again." Martha said to him, "I know that
he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day. "Jesus said to her,
"I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me, even though he
dies, he shall live." (John 11:21-25)
Martha
expressed her faith that her dead brother would rise again at the 'last day',
but Jesus demonstrated his power and compassion by raising Lazarus to life,
there and then.
From
this episode we learn a lot about death:
•
For the Christian, it is no more than a sleep, with the prospect of awakening at
the end of it.
•
It is still a painful experience for those who are left behind - for all her
faith, Martha was stricken with grief at her loss. This chapter tells how Jesus
himself shed tears, he was deeply moved by people's grief.
•
In Jesus Christ there is comfort. He is not there for us in the same way that he
was for Martha, but we have his assurance: "I am the resurrection and the
life."
The book
of Ecclesiastes contains a brilliant piece of poetry, describing growing old:
In the day when the
keepers of the house tremble, And the strong men bow down; When the grinders
cease because they are few, And those that look through the windows grow dim;
(Ecclesiastes 12:3)
In this
passage the 'keepers of the house' and the 'strong men' are the arms and legs,
the 'grinders' are the teeth, and the 'windows' are the eyes. Here and in the
surrounding verses we are presented with a scene of slow decay.
Ageing,
disease and death are a part of life. There is no escaping them. At least, not
yet.
But for
the Christian, there is more to life than these few years of toil and trouble.
There is a confident hope for the future. The Bible is full of it. Here is a
vision of the future we find in the book of Revelation:
And I heard a loud voice
from heaven saying, "Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will
dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with
them and be their God. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there
shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying; and there shall be no more pain,
for the former things have passed away." (Revelation 21:3-4)
The
Bible explains clearly that one day (nobody knows exactly when), Jesus Christ
will return to the earth. Paul again:
But I do not want you to
be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep, lest you should
sorrow as others who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose
again, even so God will bring with him those who sleep in Jesus ... For the Lord
himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel,
and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first... (1
Thessalonians 4:13-16)
What a glorious prospect to look
forward to!
Paul
wrote his second letter to his friend Timothy when he was an old man. It was
probably written from a prison cell as he awaited execution under the emperor
Nero.
I have fought the good
fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Finally, there is laid
up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will
give to me on that day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his
appearing. (2 Timothy 4:7-8)
Did ever
anyone approach death so calmly and cheerfully?
Martha
declared her confidence in the 'resurrection at the last day'. Paul looked
forward to receiving a 'crown of righteousness'. What was it they spoke of?
The
Bible is full of pictures of the time that is to come on the earth. The first
chapters of Genesis tell how mankind alienated themselves from God and brought a
curse upon themselves and the world; the rest of the Bible is concerned with
telling us how God set about undoing that curse. It involves Jesus Christ giving
his life to bring us back to God. There is promised a time when Christ will
return to the earth, raise and judge the dead, give eternal life to those who
have tried to follow him, sweep away the godless misrule of man and set up an
everlasting kingdom on an earth restored to the beauty in which it was created.
Here is just one picture of that time:
The wilderness and the
wasteland shall be glad for them, And the desert shall rejoice and blossom as
the rose;... Strengthen the weak hands, And make firm the feeble knees. Say to
those who are fearful-hearted, "Be strong, do not fear! Behold, your God
will come with vengeance, With the recompense of God; He will come and save
you." Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, And the ears of the deaf
shall be unstopped. Then the lame shall leap like a deer, And the tongue of the
dumb sing. For waters shall burst forth in the wilderness, And streams in the
desert. (Isaiah 35:1-6)
This is
the glorious prospect which those who belong to God have to look forward to. It
is the same vision that spurred on Jesus himself through the difficulties of his
life:
...who for the joy that
was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at
the right hand of the throne of God. (Hebrews 12:2)
What is Jesus doing now, at this moment? The Bible tells how he died,
and rose to life again, then ascended to heaven. But before he left his
disciples, he said to them:
"Lo,
I am with you always, even to the end of the age." (Matthew 28:20)
In the
letter to the Hebrews, we learn that Jesus' role now is as a High Priest for his
followers. What is a High Priest? In the days of the nation of Israel in the Old
Testament, there were certain men called priests whose job it was to help the
nation in their worship. The High Priest was the man who had the special duty of
leading them in their spiritual life. His role involved 'mediating' between God
and the people.
The High
Priest in the Old Testament was a picture to show us what Jesus is doing now. We
are told that he is in God's presence, presenting our prayers to our Father. He
is always there, a constant help in every situation. And he knows what we are
going through, because he was once frail and mortal like us.
For we do not have a high
priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted
as we are, yet without sin. (Hebrews 4:15)
There is
no trial or temptation we can endure, no emotion we can have, that Jesus has not
experienced.
Really?
Did Jesus ever know what it was like to be truly lonely?
The time
came when Jesus was to die. He knew it - he had talked about it. He was prepared
for it. His death was the only way we could be saved from our sins. It was going
to be a horrific ordeal, but he was determined to go through with it.
On the
night before his death, he said to his disciples:
"Indeed,
the hour is coming, yes, has now come, that you will be scattered, each to his
own, and will leave me alone. And yet I am not alone, because the Father is with
me. " John 16:32
That
night he took his disciples out to a garden they knew. (You can read these
events in Matthew's gospel chapter 26.) He asked them to watch with him while he
prayed, but they all fell asleep. Even so, God was watching, and he sent an
angel to strengthen Jesus in his agony.
A band
of soldiers came to arrest him. All the disciples forsook him and fled. Alone,
Jesus was led to Jerusalem. All that night he stood on trial. He was condemned
to die, then thrown into the Roman garrison to provide amusement for a savage
band of soldiers who abused and beat him; and finally he was led out to be
executed. The account in Matthew 27 verses 32 onwards describes the process of
crucifixion. He was nailed by his hands and feet to a wooden cross and hoisted
into the air, and left there while his enemies stood round and mocked him.
Only a small group of very close friends, along with his mother, kept a vigil at the foot of the cross. John 19 verse 25 relates his last act of kindness - even at this terrible time he was thinking of others. Towards the end, Jesus felt completely alone.
Now from the sixth hour
until the ninth hour there was darkness over all the land. And about the ninth
hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, "Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?"
that is, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" (Matthew
27:45-46)
He died.
That
wasn't the end, of course. His father had not forsaken him. The Gospels go on to
describe the glorious events of the next few days, how he rose to life, greeted
his friends, and later ascended to heaven.
There
are just two points we want to note. Firstly, our Lord knows exactly what it is
like to be lonely, abandoned, turned against and cut off. He has been through it
all. However alone we might ever feel, he knows exactly what it's like.
Secondly, his experience shows that in reality God never leaves his children
completely alone.
Three
basic facts about us
There is
someone who cares. God cares!
We can speak to him - by prayer.
Be
anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with
thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God,
which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through
Christ Jesus (Philippians 4:6.7).
And we
can listen to him - by reading his word, the Bible.
For whatever things were
written before were written for our learning, that we through the
patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope (Romans 15:4).
Think
about this:
Draw near to God and he
will draw near to you. (James 4:8)
This
booklet is published by the Christadelphians (the name means Brothers and
Sisters in Christ) a worldwide community of believers united in our unique faith
in the God of the Bible. To learn more about us, or to get in contact, please
write to:
Christadelphian
ALS
17 Sherbourne Rd., Acocks Green, Birmingham, B27 6AD
or visit www.christadelphian.org
Bible
quotations from the New King James Version, © Thomas Nelson Inc. 1982.