When God Seems Absent

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Worship Service for February 27, 2022

ANNOUNCEMENTS

After today, the books on the table in the back will be donated to Project Learn.

Gail and I will be traveling to Florida tomorrow and will return Friday.

This Wednesday is Ash Wednesday; the 40 day period that precedes Easter and is known as the Lenten season. The tradition of placing ashes on the forehead originated in the Roman Church in the 6th century. Many Christian churches continue this practice. Here at CrossPointe, we have not. We are going to observe Ash Wednesday by having another of our Prayer Vigils. We are inviting you to sign up for one or more 20 minute time slots to pray. Please pick up a prayer folder that will help you.

CALL TO WORSHIP

But now, O Jacob, listen to the Lord who created you.
O Israel, the one who formed you says,
“Do not be afraid, for I have ransomed you.
I have called you by name; you are Mine.
When you go through deep waters, I will be with you.
When you go through rivers of difficulty, you will not drown.
When you walk through the fire of oppression, you will not be burned up;
the flames will not consume you.
For I am the Lord, your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.”
Isaiah 43:1-3

OPENING WORSHIP SONGS

How Firm a Foundation

Rippon, John

How firm a foundation, Ye saints of the Lord,
Is laid for your faith in His excellent Word!
What more can He say than to you He hath said,
To you who for refuge to Jesus have fled?
Fear not; I am with thee. O be not dismayed,
For I am thy God, and will still give thee aid.
I’ll strengthen thee, help thee, and cause thee to stand,
Upheld by My gracious, Omnipotent hand.
When through fiery trials, Thy pathway shall lie,
My grace, all sufficient, shall be thy supply.
The flames shall not hurt thee; I only design
Thy dross to consume and thy gold to refine.
The soul that on Jesus hath leaned for repose,
I will not, I will not desert to its foes;
That soul, though all hell should endeavor to shake,
I’ll never, no never, no never forsake.
©Public Domain
CCLI License No. 1843349

Now That You’re Near

Sampson, Marty

Hold me in Your arms…never let me go.
I want to spend eternity with You.
I stand before You Lord… and give You all my praise
Your love is all I need…Jesus, You’re all I need.
My life belongs to You…You gave Your life for me.
Your grace is all I need…Jesus You’re all I need.
Hold me in Your arms…never let me go
I want to spend eternity with You.
And now that You’re near, everything is different
Everything’s so different Lord.
I know I’m not the same…my life You’ve changed
I want to be with You…I want to be with You.
I stand before You Lord… and give You all my praise
Your love is all I need…Jesus, You’re all I need.
My life belongs to You…You gave Your life for me.
Your grace is all I need…Jesus You’re all I need.
Hold me in Your arms…never let me go
I want to spend eternity with You.
And now that You’re near, everything is different
Everything’s so different Lord.
I know I’m not the same…my life You’ve changed
I want to be with You…I want to be with You.
Now that You’re near, everything is different
Everything’s so different Lord.
I know I’m not the same…my life You’ve changed
I want to be with You…I want to be with You.
I want to be with You…with You.
This arrangement©2008 Hillsong Publishing (admin in the US and Canada by Integrity’s Hosanna! Music/ASCAP
CCLI License No. 1843349

Breathe

Barnett, Marie

This is the air I breathe,
This is the air I breathe,
Your holy presence, living in me.
This is my daily bread,
This is my daily bread,
Your very Word, spoken to me.
And I, I’m desp’rate for You.
And I, I’m lost without You.
This is the air I breathe,
This is the air I breathe,
Your holy presence, living in me.
This is my daily bread,
This is my daily bread,
Your very Word, spoken to me.
And I, I’m desp’rate for You.
And I, I’m lost without You.
I’m lost without You.
I’m lost without You.
©1995 Mercy/Vineyard Publishing (admin. by Music Services)
CCLI License No. 1843349

OPENING PRAYER

O Lord, our God, through Your prophet, You promised to be with us regardless of how deep the waters get. That truth brings us a sense of comfort and hope because our world and our lives are not always what we hoped they would be. We know all too well that we are lost without You. And it is probably true that some of us are desperate to hear from You, to be comforted by You, to be assured of Your presence with us. And so we pray that You would enable us to say with certainty that You are, and always will be, our firm foundation. We pray this in the name of Jesus, our Rock and Redeemer, amen.

OFFERING

If you would like to send your offering through the mail, our mailing address is:

CrossPointe Community Church
P O Box 126
Chippewa Lake, OH 44215

OFFERING/PRAYER SONG

Surely the Presence of the Lord

Wolfe, Lanny

Surely the presence of the Lord is in this place;
I can feel His mighty power and His grace.
I can hear the brush of angels’ wings,
I see glory on each face;
Surely the presence of the Lord is in this place.
Surely the presence of the Lord is in this place;
I can feel His mighty power and His grace.
I can hear the brush of angels’ wings,
I see glory on each face;
Surely the presence of the Lord is in this place.
©1977 Lanny Wolfe
CCLI License No. 1843349

MORNING PRAYER

Robyn Tresch

Dear Lord,
We are grateful to be in this place today. You have told us, “where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them”, and we know surely your presence is in Crosspointe this morning. As we face each day’s unique challenges, we pray that you help us to truly live out a life of love. We know that this is only possible through the power of your Spirit, so we ask that we may help guide others, drawing them closer to you. We need your love to stir our hearts, your wisdom to guide us, and your Spirit to lead us, to live out full lives that will bring honor to you first. We thank you, Lord, that you are always with us; and give us great purpose and hope. In Jesus’ Name we pray, Amen.

SCRIPTURE

O Lord, you have examined my heart
and know everything about me.
You know when I sit down or stand up.
You know my thoughts even when I’m far away.
You see me when I travel and when I rest at home.
You know everything I do.
You know what I am going to say
even before I say it, Lord.
You go before me and follow me.
You place your hand of blessing on my head.
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
too great for me to understand!
I can never escape from Your Spirit!
I can never get away from Your presence!
If I go up to heaven, You are there;
if I go down to the grave, You are there.
If I ride the wings of the morning,
if I dwell by the farthest oceans,
even there Your hand will guide me,
and Your strength will support me.
Psalm 139:1-10

If you love Me, obey My commandments. And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Advocate, who will never leave you. He is the Holy Spirit, who leads into all truth. The world cannot receive Him, because it isn’t looking for Him and doesn’t recognize Him. But you know Him, because He lives with you now and later will be in you. No, I will not abandon you as orphans—I will come to you. Soon the world will no longer see Me, but you will see Me. Since I live, you also will live. When I am raised to life again, you will know that I am in my Father, and you are in Me, and I am in you. Those who accept My commandments and obey them are the ones who love Me. And because they love Me, My Father will love them. And I will love them and reveal myself to each of them.
John 14:15-21

MESSAGE

When God Seems Absent

Randy K’Meyer

Name this tune.

“I really want to see you, I really want to be with you, I really want to see you Lord.”

Yes, that’s My Sweet Lord, written by George Harrison, in which he expresses both a longing to experience God’s presence, and his disappointment because “It takes so long, My Lord.”

Those of us who grew up listening to the Beatles and following their lives afterward wonder if George ever found what he was looking for.

What a stark contrast between Harrison’s song and the songs that we have thus far sung today:

“Now that You’re Near”
“This is the air I breathe, Your very presence living in me.”
“Surely the presence of the Lord is in this place.”

Can I share something personal with you? The truth of the matter is that sometimes my experience parallels George’s more than it does the author of these Christian songs that are bathed in the certainty of God’s presence. I don’t think I’m alone in that regard.

Although it’s twenty years old, U.S. News & World Report reported that those who call themselves Christians in the U.S. were asked, “In general, how often would you say you have experienced God’s presence?”

48% checked the box labeled, “many times.”
23% said, “several times.”
17% indicated “once or twice.”
10% said “never.”
2 % said, “don’t know.” ¹

Have you ever been disappointed in God because your experience with God has fallen short of your expectation that God ought to, in some sense, be present with you? If so, I have a few observations that I’d like to make that help me When God Seems Absent.

The scriptures do not hide the fact that there are people in the Bible who do not, for whatever reason, experience the presence of God.

In fact, it may surprise you to know that the same contrast that exists in the lyrics of Harrison’s and the Christian songs we sang is also reflected in the Bible.

As we have seen, Psalm 139:7 expresses the essence of Breathe. “I can never escape from your spirit! I can never get away from your presence.”

While Psalm 13:1 has been written George Harrison style, by someone who has been disappointed because for some reason God is nowhere to be found: “O Lord, how long will You forget me? How long will You look the other way?”

Those words could have been spoken by Job.

Many people know enough about the book of Job to understand that Job suffered the loss of his children, his health, and his wealth. Some of those people know that the majority of the book contains lengthy dialogs between Job and his friends concerning his suffering. And whereas, we might expect to hear Job complaining about his losses, he focuses instead on the single theme of God’s absence.

What hurt him most was he didn’t sense that God was with him in his pain. “I go east, but He is not there. I go west, but I cannot find Him. I do not see Him in the north, for He is hidden. I look to the south, but He is concealed” (Job 23:8-9).

My guess is there are some of us here today who may be experiencing deep waters and feel exactly like Job did.

Philipp Yancey insightfully writes, “We dare not make sweeping claims about the promise of God’s intimate presence unless we take into account those times when God seems absent.” ²

And don’t you find that God seems most absent when we need Him the most?

Many of us could echo Psalm 10:1: “O Lord, why do you stand so far away? Why do you hide when I need you the most?” (10:1).

Those words could have been written by that great defender of the Christian faith, C. S. Lewis, who gifted the church with so many wonderful books about having faith, but who after his wife’s death from cancer, experienced what many call the ‘dark night of the soul.’

In, Grief Observed, Lewis wrote:

Where is God? When you are happy, so happy that you have no sense of needing Him, you will be, or so it feels, welcomed with open arms. But go to Him when your need is desperate, when all other help is vain, and what do you find? A door slammed in your face, or so it feels, and a sound of bolting, and double bolting on the inside. After that, nothing; you might as well turn away. The longer you wait, the more emphatic the silence will become. … Why is He so present a commander in our time of prosperity and so very absent a help in our time of trouble? ³

But hidden those remarks is a clue as to why that is so. Did you catch it? He said, “welcomed with open arms, or so it feels;” “a door slammed in your face, or so it feels.” ⁴

C. S. Lewis learned that when we go through deep waters, we have a tendency to focus too much on our feelings, and not enough on our faith. In the midst of pain or suffering or disappointment with life, if we allow it, our feelings will overwhelm our faith and God will seem absent.

And here’s an interesting fact; people today, more so than ever before, tend to trust their feelings over truth. ⁵

Why? Two reasons. One, in our pride, human beings like to think that they are always right; therefore, we have a tendency to think our feelings are always right. And two, because we have learned that truth can be manipulated.

An article in Psychology Today says, “The adage ‘trust your feelings’ has by now become almost axiomatic.” They give an example of a person who gets on an elevator. They have been on enough elevators to know that it can get them safely higher up. But as it begins to ascend the person suddenly has a feeling that it’s not safe. So they push the button and get off at the next floor and take the stairs. The feeling trumped the truth that the elevator was safe. ⁶

We must remember to always allow our faith in the truth of God’s word to trump our feelings.

God’s word tells us that God is always with us regardless of the storms of life.

In today’s text, the storm is about to break upon the disciples. Jesus has been telling them He is about to go where they cannot come. They are having a hard time with that. And so He promises them, I will still be present with you as the Holy Spirit. He assures them, “I will not abandon you as orphans” (14:18).

And then in 16:1 Jesus says, “I have told you these things so you will not abandon your faith.”

We are called to live by faith, not feelings! We can rest assured that our faith rests on solid ground if we have placed it in God. For our faith is founded on the infallible, unchanging authoritative word of God.

So when we are feeling like God has abandoned us, we need to stop right there and before going any further. We simply must trust in the Word of God when it assures us God is with us.

I’m not saying we should ignore our feelings, we can’t do that. When disappointment comes, sadness is close behind. What I’m saying is we cannot allow that sadness to cloud our faith, or God will feel distant, if not absent.

We will be better able to handle the storms that rage around us on the outside when we put all our trust in the security of God’s word within.

“This is the air I breathe, Your very word spoken to me.”

In 1942 David Milton was an 18-year-old merchant seaman aboard a ship that was transporting Sherman Tanks to the war theater in Europe. In the middle of the Atlantic, some of those tanks broke loose during a big storm. As that ship rolled in the rough sea, those 30-ton tanks rolled back and forth, bulkhead to bulkhead to the point where they were tearing the ship apart. So they pulled out of the convoy while the deck seamen went below to try and secure those tanks. Milton said he watched as those guys rode those tanks like cowboys as they hooked cables and chains until after three hours they were successful in lashing them all down again. The danger came upon Milton’s ship, not as a result of the storm on the outside, but by the disturbance on the inside.

The point being that we can only handle things on the outside when we are battened down within.

Tim Keller, in his wonderful book, Walking with God through Pain and Suffering, wants us to know that the Bible is full of people who decide to trust God in the midst of those difficult times when God seems absent. And how their story can become our story.

He points to the story of Joseph in Genesis. For over 20 years, Joseph suffered all kinds of misfortunate events in which it must have seemed to him that God was absent. And yet, Joseph maintains his trust that God is working things out for the best.

Although Keller doesn’t mention the Butterfly Effect that we talked about last week, he notes,

Unless every one of these little events (in Joseph’s life) had happened just as they did, and so many of them were bad terrible things, Joseph would have never been sent to Egypt. If the brothers had not betrayed Joseph and sold him into slavery, the family (and Joseph) would not have been saved from disaster and death. It was obviously all part of God’s plan.
God was present at every point, and was working even in the smallest details of the daily lives and schedules and choices of everyone. So this shows that “all things work according to the counsel of His will” (Ephesians 1:10-11).
The point is this: God was hearing and responding to Joseph’s prayers for deliverance, rescue, and salvation, but not in the ways or forms or times Joseph asked for it. During all this time in which God seemed hidden, Joseph trusted God nonetheless.” ⁷

We must do the same thing!

What the story of Joseph reminds us is that we cannot know what God knows,
for He is God and we are not. Therefore, our only option is to join Joseph and trust in God.

Maybe you can’t relate to the story of Joseph; after all, that was 3,700 years ago; things are a little different today, right? Not really.

Some of you probably recall the story of Major League Baseball’s Dave Dravecky. He was a pitcher for the San Francisco Giants who had to put his career on hold while he battled cancer in his pitching arm, but he didn’t give up. After surgery, radiation, and minor league rehab, in his first big league game, he threw a pitch that snapped his arm in two. It became known in the baseball world as the pitch heard ’round the world.

So he had more surgery, radiation, physical therapy, and another minor league rehab stint only to suffer the same fate a second time. This time he retired from baseball and eventually lost his arm.

At first, he wondered why God would allow such a tragedy in his life. But eventually, because of his strong determination and trust in God, he came back to pitch in the Majors with one arm.

In his book, When You Can’t Come Back, Dravecky writes,

Looking back, I’ve learned that the wilderness is part of the landscape of faith, and every bit as essential as the mountaintop. On the mountaintop we are overwhelmed by God’s presence. In the wilderness we are overwhelmed by His absence. Both places should bring us to our knees; the one, in utter awe; the other, in utter dependence.” ⁸

Or as Evelyn Underhill wrote: “If God were small enough to understand,
He wouldn’t be big enough to be worshipped.” ⁹

“Fear not, I am with thee, oh, be not dismayed,
For I am thy God, and will still give thee aid;
I’ll strengthen thee, help thee, and cause thee to stand,
Upheld by My gracious, omnipotent hand.”

PRAYER IN RESPONSE TO THE MESSAGE

[I encourage you to pray as you feel led by the Spirit of God].

CLOSING SONG

Still

Morgan, Reuben

Hide me now… under Your wings.
Cover me, within Your mighty hand.
When the oceans rise and thunders roar,
I will soar with You above the storm.
Father, You are King over the flood.
I will be still…know You are God.
Find rest my soul…in Christ alone.
Know His power…in quietness and trust.
When the oceans rise and thunders roar,
I will soar with You above the storm.
Father, You are King over the flood.
I will be still…know You are God.
When the oceans rise and thunders roar,
I will soar with You above the storm.
Father, You are King over the flood.
I will be still…know You are God.
I will be still…know You are God.
I will be still…know You are God.
©2002 Reuben Morgan, Hillsong Publishing
CCLI License No. 1843349

BENEDICTION

Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God our Father, who loved us and gave us eternal comfort and good hope through grace, comfort your hearts and establish them in every good work and word.
II Thessalonians 2:16-17

1 PBS’s Religion and Ethics Newsweekly/U.S. News & World Report poll
conducted March 26—April 4, 2002
Faith in America, U.S. News & World Report (5-6-02), p. 42; https://www.preachingtoday.com/illustrations/2002/may/13683.html

2 A book Review of Philipp Yancey’s Grace Notes by Elizabeth Cottrell
https://www.heartspoken.com/1561/grace-notes-a-daily-devotional/

4 Ibid.

5 https://www.preachingtoday.com/skills/themes/preachingthatinspires/2000

6 “Trust Your Feelings? . . . Maybe Not”
Why trusting our feelings can be dangerous.
Posted August 8, 2008
Trust Your Feelings? . . . Maybe Not | Psychology Today