Feeling Lost, Hurt or Broken?

     Imagine your child telling you that they don’t need you, walking away from you, rebelling against you and even denying that you exist. You created them, gave them life, loved them, cared for them. They are young, and have much to learn about life, but they don’t want your help and they don’t even want you in their life. You are not a mean parent, you only ever loved them and the times that you disciplined them, you did so in love, and in teaching them. You gave them instruction on how to live a good life, you took care of their needs, you were always a shoulder to cry on and always there to wipe their tears. Sometimes it was as if they didn’t notice you, or notice all of the things that you did for them, but it didn’t stop you. You love them unconditionally. They could be not only indifferent to you, but sometimes downright cruel. They didn’t listen to the guidance that you gave them. They didn’t treat their brothers and sisters with kindness, and worst of all, they turned away from you and the love that you so freely had to give to them. Instead they chose to go their own way. They stopped talking to you and they set out on a life apart from you and apart from your love. You kept trying to reach out, you even sent others to reach out on your behalf, because out of your great love, you were so worried about the path they were on. You could see that the things that they were doing were harmful to their life, even though they were just ‘having fun’ and ‘living their life’. You were forced to watch from afar as they continued to make choices that ended in feelings of hurt, guilt and even depression. You tried to call, send a letter, even stop by, knock on the door, leave a note. Still when others would ask them about you, they would deny that you even existed. It hurt you, but mostly because you could see how much they were hurting without you and without all of the love you had for them.

    I imagine that this is how it is for God, when his children (you, me) turn away from Him. He gave you life and yet you deny His very existence. You have built idols in His place, idols such as money, material things, drugs, alcohol, lovers, other higher powers, self-entitlement and pride. You value things that in the end will not only fail to sustain happiness in your life, but in the end will bring sorrow and ruin. In a world that keeps trying to push you to self-love, as wonderful as it sounds, will often only lead to self-destruction.

    Why do you insist on living life without your Father in Heaven who created you for so much more? To the one who breathed life into your lungs and who knows you so deeply that He knows how many hairs are on your head (Matthew 26:30) and knows each thought you think. I know that there are times in your life that you felt alone, but I promise that even though it felt that way, it was not so. In Deuteronomy 31:8 it says that The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you: he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.

    You may say that if God really existed, then why would He allow such injustices and such cruelty in this world. The truth is that God, though all-powerful, allows humans free will, so we can choose to love Him and are not forced to do so. There also exists in this world an evil enemy, the devil. The enemy lies to you and wants you to believe that you don’t matter. He seeks to steal, kill and destroy (John 10:10).

    If you are feeling hurts in this world that are hindering you from believing in God, or that are keeping you from wanting to know a God that you think is cruel and wasn’t ‘there for you’, I implore you to please seek answers. You may think that the Bible is just some book that is written by a bunch of old, dead guys, but there is historical proof and evidence for what is written inside of those pages. To read about the life of Jesus, God’s only Son, and not be able to see that He was more than just a man, by the way that he lived and by the words that He spoke, to me, it is beyond understanding. I can only conclude that most who deny God, have not even spent time in His word, and have not taken any time to study or research the evidence of His existence and of the Truth that is revealed about Him. The evidence is there, you need only seek it. Why would you want to continue living life without your loving Father, who cares so much about you, and loves you more than you love anyone in your life (as unfathomable as that seems)? Yes, you, in all of your sin, all of your imperfections, all of your mess. You do not have to get your life together to come to God and ask Him into your heart. As my wise Pastor said in his message yesterday, “God loves you just the way that you are, but He loves you too much to let you stay that way”. God wants you to know Him in a deep and personal way, just like you want your children to know you and to love you. He has tried to get your attention. He has tried to send others to speak on his behalf. Allow the barriers that you have put up to come down. Look into the evidence that is right there, right in front of you. Research. Ask. Seek.

    Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. Matthew 7:7

    This is a choice that each person must make for themselves. Like any choice, there are consequences. A life following Jesus, is not an easy one, but a life without Jesus is like living in darkness and unfortunately, without Jesus, it means eternity in darkness, separated from His light and love.

    Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” John 14:6

    Do not delay. Seek today. Why waste another day apart from the light and love of the One who gave you life, the One who spoke the world into existence? Only He can truly heal your hurts and bring you the lasting fulfillment that you have not been able to find in anything or anyone else. You have felt this void in your heart and have tried to fill it with other things that only brought temporary moments of happiness, but have left you feeling empty in the end. I know, I have been there. There is something greater for you. You don’t have to get anything in order, to come to God and receive his gift of eternal salvation and love. He will meet you in the high or low places. There is nowhere that He will not go to bring you back. You are His child and He loves you.