Title: Separation From God
Scripture : Isaiah 59:2, 1 John 1:9, 2 Corinthians 12:9, Psalm 51
Date : August 17, 2009
Last Updated : August 25, 2009
But your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, And your sins have hidden [His] face from you, so that He does not hear
Isaiah 59:2
If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
1 John 1:9
But He said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me.
2 Corinthians 12:9
Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from me.
Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit.
Psalm 51:10-12 KJV
Separation from God is the worst state to be in. It cuts deep into the most inner part of your soul, and no matter how many people are surrounding you, you feel so lonely, helpless, and vulnerable to all sorts of attacks against you. You feel rejected, unloved, hated by everyone around you; you may even feel like the world has come to an end, and there is no point in living. You feel dirty, and ashamed, and even though you know God is waiting for you with open arms to forgive you, you feel too dirty to even speak to God and you feel undesirving of His love and forgiveness. The more you fall into this spiral of depression, the more you will believe in all these lies of God not loving you, the more you'll believe that those who love you hate you, the more you'll grow from sadness to anger; you'll try to find love in all the wrong places, you'll sin, you'll give Satan room in your heart, and you'll just be spiralling more and more away from God.
This is what sin does to us. When we sin, our fellowship with God is broken. Sin separates us from Him. (Isaiah 59:2) It hurts our soul and can lead to depression. What I wrote above, some may not reach that far, and others may reach further. But to reach that state of broken fellowship is one of the worst states to be in. Some people can go on their whole life separated from God, using sex, money, friends, drugs, alcohol, school, work, etc, as a means to temporary happiness, but that gap is still there, that loneliness is still ever present. These temporary remedies to loneliness can never really completely fill that gap, even for that little moment. But still, these people continue to believe that they just don't need God. Some people go as far as to believing that He doesn't even exist. But for me, I can't even last a few hours without Him. It's because I know God, I've walked with God, I've felt His love an embrace, His warmth, His mercy, His blessings and forgiveness. That's why when I break my fellowship with Him, it cuts deep, to the deepest core. In this state of loneliness, I tend to turn to family, friends (don't get me wrong, nothing is wrong with turning to them for encouragement, the problem is when you turn to them as a replacement to God), sometimes I turn to books apart from my Bible, sometimes I allow school to occupy my mind, and sometimes, I just continue to sin more. The very sin that separated me from God in the first place, is the sin I turn to for comfort. Not so smart.
We need to remember that God is with us and for us. He never leaves, it's us that leaves. God is on the right, sin is on the left. They do not combine; they can not be found side by side. When we sin, we choose to go left. We chose to leave our safe haven in God and turn to sin instead. God says that "His grace is sufficient for us" (2 Corinthians 12:9) So do you know that by sinning, we are calling God a liar? God says that He will provide for us; He will satisfy us. But we are too impatient and we lack faith. We take matters into our own hands and decide that "God will not supply my needs, I'm going to turn to sin to make me satisfied. I don't want to wait for God." Yeah, well, do so and see where you'll end up. In the end, we end up crawling back to God.
Don't feel to ashamed to come back to God. God will forgive you, when you honestly seek His forgiveness, and repent, which means turning away from that sin (1 John 1:9). When we take this step of faith, our relationship with God will be mended and restored. Step up, we don't need sin to satisfy us; everything we need is right here, it is found in God.
A Prayer for Forgiveness from David in the Old Testament from Psalm 51:1-17 NIV
You are kind, God! Please have pity on me. You are always merciful! Please wipe away my sins. Wash me clean from all of my sin and guilt. I know about my sins, and I cannot forget my terrible guilt.
You are really the one I have sinned against; I have disobeyed you and have done wrong. So it is right and fair for you to correct and punish me. I have sinned and done wrong since the day I was born. But you want complete honesty, so teach me true wisdom. Wash me with hyssop[a] until I am clean and whiter than snow.
Let me be happy and joyful! You crushed my bones, now let them celebrate. Turn your eyes from my sin and cover my guilt. Create pure thoughts in me and make me faithful again. Don't chase me away from you or take your Holy Spirit away from me. Make me as happy as you did when you saved me; make me want to obey! I will teach sinners your Law, and they will return to you.
Keep me from any deadly sin. Only you can save me! Then I will shout and sing about your power to save. Help me to speak, and I will praise you, Lord. Offerings and sacrifices are not what you want. The way to please you is to feel sorrow deep in our hearts. This is the kind of sacrifice you won't refuse.
Footnotes:
[a] Psalm 51:7 hyssop: A small bush with bunches of small, white flowers. It was sometimes used as a symbol for making a person clean from sin.
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