Is God Gone?

In our classroom this year, we read extensively about King Hezekiah. Now for those who don't know Judaean history, He was a great king of Judah. He was the son of an evil man named King Ahaz. His father killed his own son's as sacrifices to an idol. But Hezekiah was not like his father. He was a man of God. He followed God's path and obeyed God's law. During his reign Judah destroyed idols, repaired the Temple, and followed God's law as the Torah commanded. As King he saw the neighboring country of Israel be destroyed by Assyria while his nation of Judah prospered and avoided such destruction.

Sounds like a good life, huh? Due to his faithfulness, God gave him everything. But actually the story is a bit more complex than that. You see, we need to look at a very important part of the text here. Remember, this is the king that removed idol worship and restored the nation's worship of God at the Temple, both in word and deed. Now listen closely. Here is what happened in his relationship with God.

II Chron. 32:32"...God left him to himself."

What? What does this mean? God left Hezekiah to himself. God did not answer him. In context we see that Hezekiah had fallen to the chief of all sins. Pride. With all that Hezekiah had seen in his life, all the provisions God made for him and his nation, Hezekiah still became a proud man. And God left him.

Does it feel like God is gone in your life too? Does it feel like God has distanced Himself from you? What can we do about this?

The answer may be simple. Repent. That is the theme of the Old Testament and the New Testament. Jesus preached it. Paul preached it. John the Baptist preached it. The prophets preached it. We must repent if something has come between us and God.

Now sometimes it may be that we feel God has abandoned us and it is not related to our sin. God let Job go through serious trials to purify him, and Job felt as tough God had abandoned him as well. But God was not punishing Job, He was testing him.

Now, I don't know if this is something you struggle with. I do not know if you feel like God is distant. If you don't, that's truly wonderful; but if so, take a minute and think about this. Is there something in you life that has caused this distance? Is it some part of your life that needs to be surrendered to God? Please remember that God's love is not based on how perfect or imperfect we are, but His Spirit will not reside in a place of sin. God loves you, but He will not ignore problems in your life. The solution? Pray. Bring it to the Father.

Now it may be that this isn't your problem. Maybe you are being tested like Job. If that is the case, the solution will already sound familiar to you: pray. Bring it to the Father. No matter what it is we are going through we can surrender it to Him.

Does this advise sound too simple? It may sound simple, but the reality is that there isn't anything you can do to entice God. You can't bribe Him. Indeed, we cannot even do what He requires. So what is left? We pray and ask Him to do it for us. To give us the strength to be whom He wants us to be.