### **Introduction: The Lie That God Has Abandoned Us**
Video Ill.: Sermon Bumper 5
There is a belief that has quietly worked its way into hearts and minds for generations — and it still lingers today.
It is the belief that God created the universe, yes — but then He stepped back.
He set the world in motion like a clockmaker winding a watch… and now He has left us to figure it out on our own.
In fact, several of our nation's Founding Fathers — including men like Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin — were influenced by deism, a worldview that believes in a Creator… but not in a God who is personally involved in the daily affairs of His creation.
To them, God existed — but He was distant. Remote. Watching silently from a distance.
To many today, that same God exists for them.
In a recent online blog discussion, someone asked a question that resonated with thousands:
“Does anyone else feel like God is incredibly hands-off?”
The thread filled up quickly — people from all over the world sharing how they, too, sometimes feel like God is passive. Absent. Uninvolved. They look at the pain in the world — the injustice, the loss, the silence — and they wonder:
Where is God?
Why does He feel so far away?
We ask:
Where was God when I was hurting?
Where is God when tragedy strikes?
Why does God seem silent when I pray?
And that is the lie, folks — one of the enemy’s most deceptive whispers:
God is not paying attention.
God has walked away.
God has abandoned you.
Yes, God exists. But He doesn’t want to have anything to do with you.
It is subtle. It is pervasive. And if you are carrying deep pain, grief, or uncertainty, it is easy to believe.
This morning, we’re continuing our series, “Lies the World Tells.” Over the last few weeks, we’ve been confronting the false messages our culture whispers—and replacing them with the life-giving truth of God's Word.
In week one, we uncovered the lie that we have to earn God's love—when the truth is, His love is a free gift of grace, not something we can work for or deserve.
In week two, we confronted the lie that our past defines us. But Scripture showed us that in Christ, we are made new—redeemed, restored, and no longer held captive by shame.
In week three, we addressed the lie that we are not strong enough. The world says we have to do it all on our own, but God's Word tells us that His power is made perfect in our weakness—and His grace is more than sufficient for our struggles.
And last week, in week four, we exposed the lie that we are alone in this world. The enemy wants us to believe that we are out there to do it all on our own. But the truth is, God is near to the brokenhearted, and His promise still stands: “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”
Today, we are going to expose the lie that God has abandoned us — and reclaim the truth. While similar to last week’s lie, there are some significant differences in what the world is telling us.
God has not abandoned His world.
He has not walked away from your life.
He is not passive, or distant, or indifferent.
He is present. He is active. He is Emmanuel — God with us.
And today, we are going to let that truth take root in our hearts.
So if you have ever asked the question: “Where is God now?”
If you have ever wondered: “Why does He feel so far away?”
Then I invite you to lean in — because the truth is better than the lie.
And the truth is this: God is still here. And He has never stopped caring.
### **I. The Struggle: When God Feels Distant**
But this idea—that God has walked away from us—is not new. In fact, it is as old as suffering itself. Let’s look at that struggle of abandonment — when God feels distant.
### **Illustration: The Abandoned Child Who Found Hope**
During the Rwandan genocide in 1994, a young girl named Immaculée Ilibagiza (ee-MAH-koo-lay ee-lee-bah-GEE-zah) was hidden away for 91 days in a tiny bathroom with seven other women. She was just a university student. Her family had been brutally murdered. Her village destroyed. And for those three months, she was completely cut off from the world—trapped in silence and fear.
She later wrote about her experience in her memoir, Left to Tell.
She described how, at first, she felt utterly abandoned. By her country. By her neighbors. Even, for a time, by God.
“I was so angry with God… Why would You let this happen? Where are You? Why are You silent?”
Day after day, she whispered prayers into the silence, not knowing if she would ever make it out alive. And yet slowly, over time, something changed in her.
In that hidden place, she began to feel God’s presence in her pain. Not audibly. Not dramatically. But quietly. Faithfully. She began to realize He had not left her—He was sustaining her.
“I felt His peace inside that bathroom. I did not understand it. But I began to believe again that I was not alone.”
Her story is not just one of survival—but of spiritual transformation in the midst of abandonment.
Now—maybe we have not been through a genocide or lost everything, but many of us know that feeling.
That sense of being forgotten.
That ache that whispers, “Everyone else walked away... maybe even God did too.”
You see, abandonment does not just wound our emotions. It also bruises our faith. Because if people could walk away from us—could God?
Have you ever felt that?
Like your prayers are bouncing off the ceiling?
Like you are trying to reach God but only finding silence?
Like God’s gone quiet at the very moment you need Him most?
You are not alone in that feeling.
Scripture is filled with people—faithful people—who walked through that same valley…
Let me remind you of three stories:
Job – Searching for God in the Darkness
Job lost everything—his children, his health, his wealth, his reputation—and in the middle of all that pain, he did what many of us do: he looked for God. He wanted answers. He wanted comfort. But God felt silent.
In Job 23, he cries out:
3 Oh, that I knew where I might find Him,?That I might come to His seat!
(Job 23, NKJV)
It is such a raw, honest moment. He is saying, “If I could just get to God, I would plead my case. I would ask Him why this is happening.” But as Job looks to the left and to the right, forward and backward, he cannot seem to find God anywhere.
Have you ever been there? Trying to hold on to faith, but it feels like you are holding on in the dark?
And yet—even when Job could not feel God—God had not abandoned him. God was still present, still working, still writing the ending of the story.
David – Crying Out from the Cave
David, the man after God’s own heart, knew what it was like to feel forgotten. In Psalm 13, hiding in caves, running for his life, uncertain of the future, David wrote:
1 How long, O Lord? Will You forget me
forever??How long will You hide Your face from me?
(Psalm 13, NKJV)
He was anointed king, yes—but now he was alone, hunted, betrayed, and crying into the silence. He felt like God had turned His face away. That’s real. That’s raw.
And yet, just a few verses later, David’s tone begins to change. Because even when he felt forgotten, something deep inside reminded him of what he knew was true. He ends the psalm saying:
5 But I have trusted in Your mercy;?My heart shall rejoice in Your salvation.
(Psalm 13, NKJV)
David teaches us something important: sometimes, we have to speak truth louder than our feelings.
Jesus – The Cry from the Cross
And then there is Jesus.
In His darkest hour, hanging on the cross, Jesus echoed the words of Psalm 22:
46 …“My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” (Matthew 26, NKJV)
Let that sink in for a moment.
Jesus—the Son of God—felt abandoned.
He had walked in perfect obedience.
He had shown love and compassion.
He had never sinned… and yet in that moment, He bore the full weight of sin and separation.
Why?
So that we would never have to be truly abandoned.
Jesus entered that silence, that darkness, so that you and I could always be confident of this: we are not alone. Even when we feel forsaken, God is near. Even when we cannot see His hand, we can trust His heart.
**Key reminder:** These stories do not end in silence. They end in rescue, in redemption, in God revealing that He was present all along.
You may feel like you are walking through a chapter where God is silent—but the story is not over yet.
**Key Point:** Just because you feel abandoned does not mean you are abandoned.
### **II. The Truth: God Has Always Been Near**
Why? Because second this morning, the truth is this today: God has always been near.
Hold on to that truth today — and I mean really hold onto it when the silence feels deafening. Let me say it again:
God has always been near.
Even when we do not feel Him.
Even when we cannot see Him at work.
Even when we are knee-deep in disappointment or suffering…
God is still there.
Scripture is clear. Listen to the words of King David in Psalm 34:
18 The Lord is close to the brokenhearted;? He rescues those whose spirits are
crushed.
(Psalm 34, NLT)
That is not wishful thinking — that is a promise.
And God does not only show up after the storm clears.
No — He walks into the storm with us. Listen to the words of God Himself, spoken through the prophet Isaiah in Isaiah 43:
2 When you go through deep waters,? I will be with you.?When you go through rivers of difficulty,? you will not drown. ?|| When you walk through the fire of
oppression,? you will not be burned up;? the flames will not consume you.
3 For I am the Lord, your God,? the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.
(Isaiah 43, NLT)
Wonder what that feels like today? Let me show you what that looks like through a couple stories from the Bible.
Joseph – The Lord Was With Him
Consider Joseph. Joseph’s life was a rollercoaster. His brothers literally abandoned him, selling him into Egyptian slavery. Imagine the betrayal of your own family throwing you away.
He ends up as a servant in Egypt… works hard… gains trust… and just when it looks like life might be turning around, he’s falsely accused and thrown into prison.
Talk about being forgotten. Talk about feeling abandoned.
But if you read Genesis 39 carefully, there is this beautiful phrase that keeps showing up, almost like a whisper from heaven:
“But the Lord was with Joseph…” (Genesis 39:2)
“…The Lord was with him and showed him kindness…” (Genesis 39:21)
“…The Lord was with Joseph and gave him success in whatever he did.” (Genesis 39:23)
Even in the pit. Even in the prison.
Even in betrayal and delay — God had not left him.
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego – In the Fire
You may remember the story of these three young men who refused to bow to the king’s idol.
They were thrown into a blazing furnace — not metaphorically. Literally into the fire.
Now God could have stopped the whole thing before it started. He could have blown the fire out or changed the king’s mind. But He didn’t.
Instead, God chose something far more powerful. In Daniel 3 we read:
25 “Look!” Nebuchadnezzar shouted. “I see four men, unbound, walking around in the fire unharmed! And the fourth looks like a god!” (Daniel 3, NLT)
God didn’t pull them out of the fire right away…
He joined them in it.
The Apostle Paul – Nothing Can Separate Us
Paul was a man who knew suffering inside and out — beaten, imprisoned, shipwrecked, abandoned.
Yet listen to his confidence in Romans 8:
38 And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can || separate us from God’s love. 39 No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8, NLT)
That is a man who understood that the presence of suffering does not mean the absence of God.
**Key Point:**
So if you are wondering today if God has abandoned you — let these stories remind you: He was there for them… and He is here for you.
Not just on the mountaintop.
Not just when everything is going well.
But in the pit.
In the prison.
In the fire.
In the silence.
He has always been near — and He is still near today.
### **III. Trusting God’s Nearness in Suffering**
So third, this morning, we need to trust in God’s nearness during our times of suffering and our feelings of abandonment.
When life crumbles, will we trust that God is still near?
God’s nearness is not always felt emotionally, but we can cling to it through faith.
### **Illustration: “It Is Well With My Soul” – Trusting God in Tragedy**
Consider the story behind a hymn you probably know well — “It Is Well with My Soul.”
It was written by a man named Horatio Spafford, a successful Christian lawyer and businessman living in Chicago in the 1800s. Life had been good for him… until it suddenly was not.
First, he and his wife lost their young son to illness.
Then, in 1871, the Great Chicago Fire swept through the city and destroyed much of his real estate holdings. He went from financial security to devastation almost overnight.
But he kept going. He kept the faith. He and his wife began the slow process of rebuilding their lives.
Two years later, in 1873, he planned a trip to Europe with his family. But last-minute business kept him behind. So he put his wife and four daughters on a ship and sent them on ahead.
That ship never made it.
It collided with another vessel in the Atlantic Ocean… and sank.
All four daughters drowned.
His wife survived — and when she arrived in Wales, she sent a simple, gut-wrenching telegram:
“Saved alone.”
Can you even imagine?
Spafford boarded the next ship to go meet her. As they were crossing the Atlantic, the captain called him to the bridge and gently said, “This is the area… where the ship went down.”
That night, standing over the watery grave of his daughters, broken, grieving, overwhelmed by sorrow, Spafford did not curse God.
He picked up a pen and began to write:
“When peace like a river attendeth my
way…
When sorrows like sea billows roll…
Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to
say,
‘It is well, it is well with my soul.’”
He was not in denial. He was devastated.
But he still trusted: God had not abandoned him.
Not in the fire.
Not in the loss.
Not in the cold ache of that Atlantic night.
God was still near.
And that hymn — born from grief — has carried millions through their own storms ever since.
### **IV. Responding to the Truth**
So finally this morning, how should we respond to the truth when what we feel does not seem to match what we believe?
How do we keep moving forward when our own suffering whispers that God has turned His back… that He has left us alone to figure it all out?
It begins when we can find the courage to whisper from deep within our souls: “It is well… even if.”
Even if we do not understand.
Even if the pain lingers.
Even if we feel the weight of silence.
So how do we get there?
First, be honest about your doubts and grief. God does not expect us to pretend. He welcomes our questions. Like Job, like David, like Jesus — we can cry out. We can acknowledge our pain, admit when we feel lost, and be honest about the ache. Because healing always begins with honesty. And hear this: God is not threatened by our doubt. He is not distant from our despair. He leans in when we are hurting.
Second, lean into God’s Word and His presence. Cling to His promises, even when you cannot feel them. God’s silence does not mean His absence. His quiet does not mean His care has stopped. Sometimes He is simply working behind the scenes — in ways we cannot yet see or understand. So remain anchored in His truth. Rest in His love.
Third, stay connected to God’s people. A common thread among remembering the truths when the world is firing arrows of lies at our hearts every day. Do not isolate. Surround yourself with believers who will speak truth over your life when you are too weary to say it yourself. Community is where we are reminded that we are not walking this road alone. When our hearts falter, others can hold us up.
And finally, hold on to hope. Even in the valley. Even through the storm. God has not forsaken you. He never will. He has been faithful before — and He will be faithful again.
### **Conclusion: God Has Not Left You**
This morning, the world whispers doubt into our ears every day. It tells us that God has abandoned us — that He may have created the world, but He is no longer involved or interested in our lives.
But that could not be further from the truth.
Today, take comfort in the words of God Himself, echoed through the writer of Hebrews:
5 …“I will never leave you nor forsake you.” (Hebrews 13, NKJV)
Those are not casual words. That is a promise — strong, unwavering, eternal. Never. Never ever.
No matter how we feel.
No matter what we face.
No matter what has or has not happened in our lives.
Never.
That is a truth we can build our lives on.
So even if God does not calm the storm… He is still there.
Even if the mountain does not move… He is still there.
Even if healing does not come… He is still there.
Even if our prayers are not answered the way we hoped… He is still there.
Even if He seems silent… He is still there.
Even if… No matter what… I will still trust in Him.
And that is the heart behind the song we are about to hear from MercyMe.
As we listen to “Even If”, I invite you to open your heart to the peace, the healing, and the assurance that comes from God’s promises.
You are not abandoned.
You are not forgotten.
God is with you — even now.
Video Ill.: Even If by MercyMe
