God Will Gather Me Up

"Though my father and mother forsake me, the Lord will receive me." Psalm 27:10 NIV

Living this life is about rejection. It just is. People around us may make the best decisions they possibly can in their relationships with us and we will still receive and feel rejection. In fact, our society has moved, rather quickly, into a narcissistic view of life. It’s all about how I feel, how I perceive what happened. Rather than taking the high road and thinking the best of others, we automatically become offended and angry about how we were treated. We look for acceptance and civility from others, but often find that they are so caught up in their own narcissism that they didn’t even notice that they hurt us.

"Though my father and mother forsake me . . ."

This is a very strong phrase. Parental responsibility and relationship with children is at the core of growing up as a human being. Humans weren’t created to be birthed and then go out on their own. Regardless of when a society deems that a child becomes an adult, there is a period of at least more than one decade where children are supposed to be physically, financially, and emotionally dependent upon their parents. It’s very likely that one of the reasons that so many young adults feel emotionally unstable is because their parents, in some way or another, abandoned them as young children. Oh the parents may have provided a roof over their heads and technology to amuse them, but without meaningful adult interaction and relationship, children can grow up feeling lost and alone. These children often don’t even realize that the reason they are always depressed or angry is because they lacked a meaningful relationship with their parents during those crucial growing up years.

"Though my father and mother forsake me . . ."

Forsake is such a strong word, both in the Hebrew and in English. It means to renounce and leave utterly, to cause to remain behind (not temporarily, but permanently). The psalmist was describing a situation where he felt completely devoid of important and meaningful relationships, those relationships upon which we build our self worth. All of that was gone.

But one thing remained.

Even though . . . the Lord! ". . . the Lord will receive me."

Asaph (receive) actually means to gather up (Strong’s H622). The sense is that "even if others completely throw me away and abandon me forever, the Lord Himself will gather me up to Himself." For those of us who struggle with these kind of abandonment issues, this is such a strong promise. Though others reject us, deny us, refuse to embrace us, the Lord Himself---the King of Glory---will reach down and gather us into His arms, into relationship with Him. And because He is everywhere, in every time, in every place, we will never be alone, never be without Him there.

How blessed to be a child of God. Where earthly parents and human relationships are guaranteed to fail us, God never will. He will gather us up into relationship with Him and . . . eventually into Heaven with Him.

"Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord" (v. 14). He’s worth waiting for.

© 2017 Robin L. O’Hare. All rights reserved. Permission granted for nonprofit and church groups to use this article in its entirety (including this notice). For other uses, please contact servinggodalone@yahoo.com.