Abandoned, examples of

 

God abandoned mankind.

  • Genesis 6:11-13 HCSB  Now the earth was corrupt in God's sight, and the earth was filled with violence.  12  God saw how corrupt the earth was, for all flesh had corrupted its way on the earth.  13  Then God said to Noah, "I have decided to put an end to all flesh, for the earth is filled with violence because of them; therefore I am going to destroy them along with the earth.

 

Joseph was abandoned by his brothers.

  • Genesis 37:23-28 HCSB  When Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped off his robe, the robe of many colors that he had on.  24  Then they took him and threw him into the pit. The pit was empty; there was no water in it.  25  Then they sat down to eat a meal. They looked up, and there was a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead. Their camels were carrying aromatic gum, balsam, and resin, going down to Egypt.  26  Then Judah said to his brothers, "What do we gain if we kill our brother and cover up his blood?  27  Come, let's sell him to the Ishmaelites and not lay a hand on him, for he is our brother, our own flesh." His brothers agreed.  28  When Midianite traders passed by, they pulled Joseph out of the pit and sold him for 20 pieces of silver to the Ishmaelites, who took Joseph to Egypt.

 

The Lord promises not to abandon those who serve Him.

  • Joshua 1:5 HCSB  No one will be able to stand against you as long as you live. I will be with you, just as I was with Moses. I will not leave you or forsake you.

 

While David and his men were gone, the Amalekites raided his city (named Ziklag), stole the women and children and abandoned the city. In their despair, David’s men abandoned their loyalty to him, desiring to stone him.

  • 1 Samuel 30:1-6 HCSB  David and his men arrived in Ziklag on the third day. The Amalekites had raided the Negev and attacked and burned down Ziklag.  2  They also had kidnapped the women and everyone in it from the youngest to the oldest. They had killed no one but had carried them off as they went on their way.  3  When David and his men arrived at the town, they found it burned down. Their wives, sons, and daughters had been kidnapped.  4  David and the troops with him wept loudly until they had no strength left to weep.  5  David's two wives, Ahinoam the Jezreelite and Abigail the widow of Nabal the Carmelite, had also been kidnapped.  6  David was in a difficult position because the troops talked about stoning him, for they were all very bitter over the loss of their sons and daughters. But David found strength in the LORD his God.

 

Jeremiah predicted Judah’s defeat and resulting abandoned towns.

  • Jeremiah 4:29 HCSB  Every city flees at the sound of the horseman and the archer. They enter the thickets and climb among the rocks. Every city is abandoned; no inhabitant is left.

 

The prophet Jeremiah wept over the city of Jerusalem when she was conquered and abandoned.

  • Lamentations 1:1 HCSB  How she sits alone, the city once crowded with people! She who was great among the nations has become like a widow. The princess among the provinces has become a slave.

 

David felt abandoned by his friends.

  • Psalms 38:11 HCSB  My loved ones and friends stand back from my affliction, and my relatives stand at a distance.

 

Jesus was abandoned.

  • Matthew 27:46 HCSB  At about three in the afternoon Jesus cried out with a loud voice, "Elí, Elí, lemá sabachtháni?" that is, "My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?"
  • John 16:32 HCSB  Look: An hour is coming, and has come, when each of you will be scattered to his own home, and you will leave Me alone. Yet I am not alone, because the Father is with Me.
  • Psalms 22:1 HCSB  For the choir director: according to "The Deer of the Dawn." A Davidic psalm. My God, my God, why have You forsaken me? Why are You so far from my deliverance and from my words of groaning?

 

The Jews were temporarily abandoned while the God reached out to the Gentiles.

  • Acts 18:6 HCSB  But when they resisted and blasphemed, he shook out his clothes and told them, "Your blood is on your own heads! I am clean. From now on I will go to the Gentiles."

 

Paul, along with the other prisoners and the soldiers guarding them, abandoned ship when it struck a reef.

  • Acts 27:41 HCSB  But they struck a sandbar and ran the ship aground. The bow jammed fast and remained immovable, but the stern began to break up with the pounding of the waves.

 

Demas abandoned Paul “having loved this present world.”

  • 2 Timothy 4:9-10 HCSB  Make every effort to come to me soon,  10  for Demas has deserted me, because he loved this present world, and has gone to Thessalonica. Crescens has gone to Galatia, Titus to Dalmatia.

 

Paul felt abandoned by other Christians when he courageously opposed Alexander the coppersmith alone.

  • 2 Timothy 4:14-17 HCSB  Alexander the coppersmith did great harm to me. The Lord will repay him according to his works.  15  Watch out for him yourself, because he strongly opposed our words.  16  At my first defense, no one came to my assistance, but everyone deserted me. May it not be counted against them.  17  But the Lord stood with me and strengthened me, so that the proclamation might be fully made through me, and all the Gentiles might hear. So I was rescued from the lion's mouth.

 

Sometimes following God can cause us to feel abandoned.

  • Exodus 2:21-22 HCSB  Moses agreed to stay with the man, and he gave his daughter Zipporah to Moses in marriage.  22  She gave birth to a son whom he named Gershom, for he said, "I have become a stranger in a foreign land."

 

Suffering does not necessarily mean that we are abandoned by God. Job had to suffer temporarily, but even during his suffering God had placed limitations on what Satan was allowed to do to him. Even when we feel God has abandoned us, He is actually watching out for us.

  • Job 1:6-12 HCSB  One day the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came with them.  7  The LORD asked Satan, "Where have you come from?" "From roaming through the earth," Satan answered Him, "and walking around on it."  8  Then the LORD said to Satan, "Have you considered My servant Job? No one else on earth is like him, a man of perfect integrity, who fears God and turns away from evil."  9  Satan answered the LORD, "Does Job fear God for nothing?  10  Haven't You placed a hedge around him, his household, and everything he owns? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions are spread out in the land.  11  But stretch out Your hand and strike everything he owns, and he will surely curse You to Your face."  12  "Very well," the LORD told Satan, "everything he owns is in your power. However, you must not lay a hand on Job himself." So Satan went out from the LORD's presence.
  • Job 2:1-7 HCSB  One day the sons of God came again to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came with them to present himself before the LORD.  2  The LORD asked Satan, "Where have you come from?" "From roaming through the earth," Satan answered Him, "and walking around on it."  3  Then the LORD said to Satan, "Have you considered My servant Job? No one else on earth is like him, a man of perfect integrity, who fears God and turns away from evil. He still retains his integrity, even though you incited Me against him, to destroy him without just cause."  4  "Skin for skin!" Satan answered the LORD. "A man will give up everything he owns in exchange for his life.  5  But stretch out Your hand and strike his flesh and bones, and he will surely curse You to Your face."  6  "Very well," the LORD told Satan, "he is in your power; only spare his life."  7  So Satan left the LORD's presence and infected Job with incurable boils from the sole of his foot to the top of his head.