The Desertion of God

But Zion said, The Lord hath forsaken me, and my Lord hath forgotten me.
Isaiah 49:14

Not long ago, during one of our baptism services, a man said, “I was in love with Jesus, but sin crept into my heart. When the sin came in, the presence of God left. I got angry at God because He was gone.” The man was very thankful that when he got the sin out, he could once again feel the presence of the Lord. I believe he could well identify with what Robert M. McCheyne called “the bitterest of all kinds of desertion.”

Desertion of God is when God withdraws from the soul of a believer, so that His absence is felt. The world knows nothing of this, and yet it is true. God has ways of revealing Himself to His own in another way than He does to the world: “The secret of the Lord is with them that fear Him, and He will show them His covenant.” They feel His presence, they hear His words—their hearts burn within them. The Father is the refuge of His own. They feel His everlasting arms underneath them—they feel His eye watching over them—they feel His love pouring down upon them like streams of light from heaven. The Holy Spirit is within them. Oh! This is heaven upon earth—full, satisfying joy.