Those who know your name will trust in you, for you, Lord, have never forsaken those who seek you. Psalm 9:10
How many of us can say we understand what it is like to be forsaken, to be neglected, to be abandoned?
I have a friend who can be a little absent-minded. His daughter likes to remind him of the time he unintentionally left her at a gas station. It wasn't until he arrived at home and saw the look on his wife's face that he realized what he had done. Somehow, I don't think I would let him forget it either.
I don't recall having a similar experience myself. Even with a large family and many trips in separate vehicles, I was never left behind. I know it is possible; when my sister was about five, we once made it to church without her. But abandonment is not always physical.
Unfortunately, the emotional abandonment I experienced as a child laid a foundation for years of confusion - years of pain - years of trying to measure up. Oh, I know my parents tried, but they really didn't know how to overcome their own memories of physical and emotional abandonment.
Lord, Your Word says You have never forsaken anyone who seeks You. Even so, why are there times that I feel abandoned by You? Within these words - within this truth, I can find the answer... "those who seek you." So many times, I have stopped seeking. The abandonment is not by You.
It is by me.
O Father, forgive me for the times I have not sought You with my whole heart. Help me to find You again. Continue to help me as I seek to find myself again. Reveal Yourself to me. Reveal those things in me that keep me from You. I will trust in You and You alone.