“How long wilt thou forget me, O LORD? for ever? how long wilt thou hide thy face from me?” (Psalm 13:1)
Who is leaving who, that is the question. You can rest assured that if you have been born again and for a season willfully move into the direction of sin, God will chastise you, no child of the Almighty who dishonors His name and does not repent within the time frame that He alone has set goes unpunished.
We know from the Scriptures in several places that the Almighty withdraws Himself, if you will, from us to draw us nearer to Him, for we seek His face continually. “And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.” (Jer. 29:13) That does not mean that the Holy Spirit is removed from us, but that for a time He may remain silent so that we will in all humility fervently search out the Lord more earnestly.
“Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life.” (John 6:68)
But I ask in this letter to you today this question, what if we leave, what if we head out into that dry and thirsty land of our own accord, not to seek sin or rebellion against Him who we do indeed love, not as the prodigal son did, to seek the pleasures of the world, but just to, shall we say, get away from God for a while?
This is not to be compared to Jonah, he was called to do something that he did not want to do, the rulers of Nineveh were cruel beyond all others, and he did not want them to repent. The closest approximation of an example from the Word of God that I can give you would be found in Jeremiah 20:9, “Then I said, I will not make mention of him, nor speak any more in his name. But his word was in mine heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I was weary with forbearing, and I could not stay.”
How long before the second part of that verse recorded for us came to pass we are not told, was it hours, days, weeks, before Jeremiah said, “But his word was in mine heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I was weary with forbearing, and I could not stay.” Jeremiah was tired of it, tired of the frustrations, of watching people deny that the Lord had indeed sent him, tired of preparing himself for what he knew was approaching, pestilence, the sword, famine and captivity, and so he decided to go to that dry and thirsty land. In other words my friends, he said “Let them see for themselves, I am tired of trying to reach them.”
Sound familiar?
If it does, then you my friend have been serving the Almighty as you have been called to. Whether it be online trying to warn all who will listen not only about the coming Tribulation, of what will happen to them if they do not repent and call upon the Lord Jesus Christ for the salvation of their soul, or if you are a housewife attempting to live the life of both Mary and Martha, sometimes we just want a break from the calling.
Here is where you want to quote Galatians 6:9, don’t you? “And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.” It isn’t so much the calling to serve in all humility, it is the frustrations that arrive with that calling. They will not listen, the tasks are repetitive, the burden at times gets so very heavy. For each of us that first part of the verse in Jeremiah to the second half of it has a different time frame, but it will arrive, your responsibility is to recognize it when it does.
And I offer you this as well, the Lord is not a hard taskmaster, He understands, and recall this as well, if you will, the storm was still raging around the boat as Jesus slept.
Take a break if you need to, He understands, just don’t make it too long.
