Feeling Abandoned Doesn't Make it So

 Psalm 13              Leviticus 3-4       Mark 1

Even David, a man after God’s own heart, dealt with feeling abandoned by God and found himself depressed and wondering what the future held. This is a plea for God to open his eyes or he will feel like he has died in the eyes of God. He points out that he has always trusted in God’s love for him, thus his being a man after God’s own heart. We are called, like David, to lift up our voices and our hearts in praise even when we struggle because we remember the days God blessed us greatly.

God continues the instructions that Moses is to use with Aaron and his sons as the worship leaders of Israel. The tribe of Levi is to be set aside and Aaron and his sons are to lead them in caring for the place of worship, the tabernacle and all the instruments of worship. They are to be treated completely differently in what is expected of them and their responsibilities as well as how they are treated. Don’t miss that there is a cost to being set apart as well as the blessings that come with their work. They will be provided for but responsible for the spiritual life of the people.

Mark opens declaring the story about to be told is told about the Son of God, Jesus Christ. It begins by pointing out that the Word of God as proclaimed by Isaiah the prophet, one that speaks for God, had promised that before the messiah came another would come preparing the way for him.

John the Baptist is proclaiming the Word of the Lord and calling for people to repent, turn away from their sin, confess their sin and be baptized as a sign of their new way of life. John wore the clothes of the prophet and lived on a minimal diet and spoke with power. He was careful to remind people that though they were responding to his call for change what he did really was minimal compared to the one he was preparing the way for. He would not even be worthy in his presence to take on the role of the lowest servant.

Jesus comes to John and when he is baptized, the skies open up toward the heavens and the Spirit of God descended upon Jesus like the dove coming to rest on him. God declared Jesus his beloved Son in who he was pleased. Jesus immediately separated himself from others for 40 days where he would be temped by Satan but watched over and cared for by angles.

When Jesus returns and begins to proclaim the Kingdom of God has come and those that repent and believe the good news are invited to become part of that Kingdom. Jesus begins calling his disciples, those that would be his students by walking beside him, not only listening to his words but watching and working beside him as well. What drew them to him to be willing to leave all they had behind was the power of his teaching as one that had the authority of God in his voice and not as those that just copied other’s words.

Mark’s story is one of quick action and God doing amazing things through Jesus. Jesus called people to follow him and they started a new life that took them to incredible places where they would watch and experience the power of their teacher. The begin to see even evil spirits fear him and flea at his command. We should note that it doesn’t take long for word to spread and people to come to have their lives changed through healing and the more people heard the more that came until he was overwhelmed. He withdrew to a place he could be alone and once again like in the wilderness find restoration.

Jesus would tell them not to speak about their healing but to go and do what the law required and present themselves to the priest for the declaration of being healed. Knowing what they felt they instead declared it themselves. The consequence of this disobedience was that Jesus had to move on and others didn’t experience his touch in their lives.

There are times in our lives that we find ourselves in places of great pain or feeling lost and abandoned. It is in those times that we must remember the faith of those that came before us and the foundational stories have been recorded for us in the Bible. But the story has continued through those that have passed down the faith to us. We can only testify, witness to that we actually experienced if our story is to be effective and powerful. At times we need to think about what role we are called to fulfill in that story and then follow the leading of that same Spirit that drove Jesus to the wilderness, to the secluded place, where we will have opportunity to tell the story how he changed our life.