Dr. Barclay with Something to Think About - FORSAKE(N)

 FORSAKE(N)

The Dictionary.com defines the word “forsake” as “to renounce, to quit or leave entirely, to abandon.” When one gives up something to that degree, it really indicates finality and that whatever has been “forsaken” is not likely to be taken back.

In the NKJV Bible, the term ‘forsake’ is used 58 times and ‘forsaken’ is similarly spoken of 75 times. The context is often in that of the Israelites leaving the protection of God or of God apparently abandoning His people. In Judges, for example, it says:

…the children of Israel cried out to the Lord, saying, 

“We have sinned against You, because we have both forsaken 

our God and served the Baals. 

(Judges 10:10)

and also:

Yet you have forsaken Me and served other gods. 

Therefore I will deliver you no more. 

(Judges 10:13)

Is it possible to really conceive what it must be like to be truly forsaken? I suppose there are some similarities to going through a divorce that you actually don’t want or losing something special that you value dearly or when a child you love states that they are leaving and never going to return again. But it is really more than all of that. In the Bible it refers often to a complete separation of God and His people.

But now the Lord has forsaken us 

and has delivered us into the hands of the Midianites. 

(Judges 6:13) 

I…will utterly forsake you, and the city that I gave you… 

(Jeremiah 23:39)

When there appears to be a separation between God and man, there is also evidence that God will leave people to their own devices and will allow their enemies to overpower them. It must be a terrifying feeling to realize that the God in whom you depended and the security on which you depended has been suddenly taken from you and now, you are not only on your own but that any protection you may have had is now gone. Just imagine what it might be like if the God on which you rely is suddenly not real and the basis of your existence is removed from you. And yet, this is what happens and has happened in the past when man and God become separated. God’s chosen were left to themselves and given into the hands of their enemies. It happened many times in the Book of Judges and again in the Book of Daniel when God:

…gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his (Nebuchadnezzar) hand…

(Daniel 1:2)

It would have been this feeling of total separation and abandonment that caused Jesus, when on the cross, to shout out:

My God, My God, why have you forsaken Me?

(Mark 15:34) 

A feeling of bring totally abandoned by God and being given over totally to His enemy, Satan. A chill, a feeling of being on the edge of a precipice and knowing you were about to fall and also knowing there was absolutely nothing you could do to prevent it. It would be a feeling of total despair and loss provided, of course, that one recognizes the edge of the precipice and the danger one is really in. Jesus did, however, recognize the situation; may of us do not.

When we don’t recognize the situation and

…forsake the Lord to serve other gods… 

(Joshua 24:16)

can we not, as in times past, be delivered into the hands of our enemies? And, can it be a comforting fact to know that, to those who have accepted Him, that we really don’t have to worry because He has promised:

…never to leave [us] nor forsake [us]. 

(Hebrews 13:5)

Another little thing to keep thinking about.