11 May | Youth
«When my father and my mother forsake me, then the Lord will take care of me.» Psalm 27:10
He was sad, with his head down, and tears fell from his face, dampening his clothes. With his voice breaking, that young man said just one sentence: “Pastor, my parents abandoned me.” I felt at that moment that human words would be unable to console him. All I could do was hug him and, after a few seconds, quote Isaiah 49:15, which says: “Can a woman forget her nursing child, and not have compassion on the son of her womb? I realized that God’s words touched his heart and, in some way, supported him.
Life leaves deep marks on all of us. Maybe you are suffering right now due to a problem related to your body. Perhaps your struggle is carrying the remorse of having been abused as a child by someone in your own family. Who knows, perhaps you carry in your soul the scars of an abortion, rape, or abandonment, which disfigure your joy in life. Jesus knows your pain and knows what you are going through. He has also suffered and been the target of contempt. The Bible calls Him a “Man of sorrows,” Someone “acquainted with grief” (Isa. 53:3).
While suspended on the cross, in the midst of anguish and pain, Christ opened his arms to embrace all those who are marginalized by sin. Every tear we shed is collected by God in His bottle, increasing the rivers and tide of His grace (Ps. 56:8). The Father’s heart is still moved when he sees His children suffering. So, do not despair! Trust in the Lord and place your personal anxieties in His hands.
Ellen White sublimely reproduces the loving words of Jesus: “I have endured your sorrows, experienced your struggles, encountered your temptations. I know your tears; I also have wept. The griefs that lie too deep to be breathed into any human ear, I know. Think not that you are desolate and forsaken. Though your pain touch no responsive chord in any heart on earth, look unto Me, and live” (The Desire of Ages, p. 483).
If today you suffer abandonment, I invite you to look to Jesus. From him you will receive peace, relief, and the biggest hug in the world.