Left Behind
“Do not forsake me, O LORD; O my God, do not be far from me!” Psalm 38:21
Forsake – Psalm 38 is a powerful emotional outburst of despair followed by a plea for rescue. One word dominates the two sides of this psalm. That word is azav. First we see it in verse 10. David’s strength has forsaken him. What he once relied on is now gone. He feels abandoned by his own abilities.
If you have ever been left behind in the midst of life’s turmoil, you know exactly how David feels. He tried to keep going. He did everything he could think of to draw strength for his own reserves. But it was no use. He was empty and abandoned. David stands in the cemetery and sees his own tombstone. As far as he can tell, his life is finished.
That’s when we encounter the second instance of azav. It is the same plea that Jesus cried from the cross. “Why have you forsaken me?” David, the man after God’s own heart, cries out in desperation, “Lord, please don’t leave me behind.”
You don’t have to wait for some future rapture to know what it means to be left behind. All you have to do is try to make it on your own strength. This world never gives what it cannot take away. Are you talented, skilled, clever, industrious, intelligent, beautiful, capable? Whatever the world has given, the day will come when it will ask for repayment. All that I have gathered to myself will be taken from me. I will experience azav. All those big barns will stand empty. The day of settlement will arrive.
On that day, you will have another use for azav. “Lord, do not forsake me!” When all that we counted dear leaves us behind, our vision improves dramatically. We see that there is no return to the decimated landscape of self-reliance. We can only look ahead at the Man standing on the horizon. We know that our lives depend entirely on catching up with Him, but the distance seems impossible to traverse. “Lord, don’t leave me behind.” Wait! No, don’t’ wait. I can’t get there. Come back! Come back for me. Give me your hand so that I can hold tight.
Travel light. It’s so much easier to hold on to His hand when you aren’t trying to carry the bags too.
