No Matter What Valley You Are Going Through, God Is with You
Author
Miriam Carrasquillo
Summary: Pain and grief can be so profound that we may feel God has abandoned us, even though he never leaves our side. After losing someone very dear to me, I experienced that apparent absence for the first time: I knew his promises, but suffering obscured his presence. Weeping and grieving in the face of death is entirely human; David, Abraham, and Jesus also expressed their sorrow. Yet we have the hope of seeing our loved ones again in the eternal dwelling place. Whatever valley we may be walking through, let us not take our eyes off God’s faithful promises: he knows our pain, remains near, and will never leave nor forsake us.
When Jesus was being crucified, He spoke these words: My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?! When He cried out in this way, He was going through a moment filled with anguish, pain, and great suffering.
His agony was so great that He could not feel or perceive God the Father beside Him; at one point, He felt alone. God’s presence was obscured by so much pain and suffering—although God never left Him, not even for an instant, Jesus felt that the Spirit of God had departed from Him.
I had never fully understood such a cry until recently. Not long ago, I went through a very painful experience. I was going through a time of great pain and suffering; someone very special to me had just passed away. The woman who devoted her entire life to mine had died; the one who taught me and modeled the love of our Heavenly Father for me; the one who told me on countless occasions, ‘Miriam, the Lord is with us every day of our lives’ (‘…and behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the world’ Matthew 28:20).
As I walked through this valley of pain and deep sorrow, for an instant… for a moment… and for the first time in my life, I had the feeling that God was not with me. I had never experienced anything like it in my walk with the Lord. In the midst of my anguish, I could not feel His presence. I knew that He would never abandon me, but… I could not feel Him. With tears and desperation, I cried out to God, saying, ‘I cannot feel You, Lord!’ What a sad, horrible feeling. At that moment, the Holy Spirit brought to my mind the scene of Christ on Calvary’s cross, speaking these words: ‘My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?!’ (Matt. 27:46; Mark 15:34). As I pictured this scene, I was finally able to understand what was happening to me. Although I have hope and believe in the resurrection, experiencing the emptiness that ‘my dear old lady’ had left behind and her absence was so painful for me that it obscured God’s presence in my life. At that moment, I gave way to tears, and I cried, cried, and cried.
As I reflected on this experience, I understood that there are situations in life so overwhelming that, even though we do not want them to, they can trouble us and make us feel that God is not with us. But I thank Him for His promises, which are faithful and true—He never leaves us; He never would.
When death comes to one of our loved ones, we may experience great sorrow and suffering, since we are flesh and blood—human. The Bible says that when David’s son Absalom died, David was deeply troubled and wept for him: ‘Then the king was deeply moved, and went up to the chamber over the gate, and wept. And as he went, he said: O my son Absalom—my son, my son Absalom—if only I had died in your place! O Absalom my son, my son!’ (2 Samuel 18:33). It was a moment of great desperation for David. Abraham also experienced something similar when his wife Sarah died: he mourned and wept (Genesis 23:2). Jesus Himself, seeing Mary weep over her brother Lazarus, was deeply moved in spirit and troubled, and He wept: ‘Then Jesus, when He saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come with her weeping, groaned in the spirit and was troubled… Jesus wept’ (John 11:33, 35). These examples in the Word show us that it is human to feel great sorrow and grief when a loved one leaves us. But we must always bear in mind that we have a wonderful hope: that of seeing them again in our eternal home, where we will never be separated again.
I have wanted to share this experience with you because I know that it can edify many people. Because if it happened to me, perhaps at some point it has also happened to one of you—you have felt that God is not with you—and if so, I want to tell you and assure you that God would never leave you, not even for an instant. On the contrary, that is when He is closest, accompanying you and feeling with you the same pain and anguish that you feel. You may be going through great pain right now, but no matter how great it is, or how desperate or anguished you may feel, do not take your eyes off God’s promises. He knows exactly what you are going through, and if He allowed it (because everything that happens in our lives must be approved by Him), never doubt that He will not leave you nor forsake you (Deuteronomy 31:8), not even for an instant. He will be there with you until the end.