Feeling Lost and Forgotten?
For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost. – Luke 19:10.
Are not five sparrows sold for two copper coins? And not one of them is forgotten before God. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Do not fear therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows. – Luke 12:6-7.
Some people may feel more lost and forgotten than others. In the District of Columbia, the Department of Corrections apparently forgot about a homeless man for five months. After charges against the man were dropped the DOC held him in custody for five months claiming computer records had not been updated allowing for his release. In Japan immigration authorities had a similar problem forgetting about one individual they held in custody for almost two months after release should have occurred. Immigration authorities said that the expiration of the detention period “had been forgotten.”
The word “languish” is somewhat of a forgotten word, which means: to be or become feeble, or weak; to be or live in a state of depression or decreasing vitality; or to become dispirited. While we may not be languishing forgotten in a prison or jail cell somewhere we may feel forgotten by God, and we may be “languishing” in this state of existence. The psalmist experienced this and said: “I am forgotten like a dead man, out of mind; I am like a broken vessel (Psalm 31:12).”
The good news is that God has not forgotten you and He knows exactly where you are. God knows everything about you, including how many hairs you have or don’t have on your head. God has not forgotten even about the sparrows, and you are of so much more value than they are to Him. You are the reason Jesus came down from the glories of Heaven and suffered and died on the cross. He came to find and save you.
How do we escape from our languishing and of feeling forgotten and lost? We must through faith put our trust in the Lord. The Psalmist says “The Lord also will be a refuge for the oppressed, a refuge in times of trouble. And those who know Your name will put their trust in You; for You, Lord, have not forsaken those who seek You (Psalm 9:9-10).” We must do even in the face of our feeling forgotten, abandoned, and languishing what David did. We must seek the refuge of the Lord, we must commit ourselves, our lives, everything that we are and hope to be into the hands of God. David says even though he is feeling forgotten and abandoned, “Into Your hand I commit my spirit; You have redeemed me, O Lord God of truth (Psalm 30:5).”
As Jesus was dying on the cross (Luke 23:46) He quoted Psalm 30:5, “Into Your hand I commit my spirit.” As great men and women down through the centuries have been martyred for their faith it has been recorded that many of them also quoted the same words as Jesus. Let us not wait until death to place our lives into His hands. Let us do so now.
(How do we escape from our languishing and of feeling forgotten and lost?)