The Agony of Absence

The Agony of Absence

Is there agony of absence?  When a family member passes away who was dearly loved – there is the agony of absence.  When a son, daughter or spouse boards a military plane to jet off to Afghanistan – there is the agony of absence.  When family members visit and then load up their car to head home – there is the agony of absence.

We all know what it feels like.  We feel the pain of absence.  We struggle with the distance of absence.  We lay awake at night and toss and turn – fighting off sleep thieves because of the agony of absence.  It is a real battle that countless numbers of people face every day.

With Abba Father – there is the agony of absence.   We know this from the gospels and Jesus struggling with His own destiny.  He is at war with His inner spirit.  He is aware that in a matter of time He will carry the weight of the world’s sin on His shoulder.  He is alone.  He is struggling with the agony of absence.  He just wants a few of His hand-picked buddies to spend a few minutes with Him in prayer.  That’s all.  Just a few minutes.  He deals with it by exclaiming “the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak!” (Mark 16.36-42)  Regardless of how He dealt with it – He faced the agony of absence.

It is no different today. God still faces the agony of absence.  He knows we have time.  He sees us spend our days on everything from entertainment to family responsibilities.  He sees us discipline ourselves to the gym, the YMCA, the diet program.  He sees us discipline ourselves to our favorite programs – even with DVR we can record them and watch them at “our” choice of time.  Yep!  He sees us push Him to the curb and put Him through the agony of absence.  He only hopes we will spend some time with Him.  When we miss a loved one, when we wrestle with our sleep thieves, when we deal with the absence of loved ones and friends in our life – He understands it.  He deals with it daily.  The sad part about it is that He has paid a super high price for our time.  He gave us His Son.  He cleared the way for us to spend time with Jesus without the struggle of the Law.  He paved the way to eliminate the absence of agony by sending the Holy Spirit to assist us with praying when we don’t know how to pray. He has gone the extra mile (Romans 8.26).  He has done everything He knows to do.  He faces the agony of absence.  We are not there.  We escape a few moments of spiritual discipline to spend time with Him.  He is grieved.  He is not angry – we know that because we know the patterns of his anger with humanity.  He calmed His anger by sending His Son to redeem us.  He patiently deals with the grief of the agony of absence.

We are not implying that one should spend hours a day seeking the face of God.  I am not advocating a person denying family and friends a place in our life.  Jesus himself found time to have dinner with friends and spend time with family.  He also knew the value of “his” time.  He knew how to maintain an awesome relationship with His Father.  Somehow he managed.  I think that’s all He wants from us.  Find the time.  Maybe it will be a few minutes with a favorite devotional book that focuses your day an encouraging passage of scripture.  Maybe it will be a few minutes with a friend discussing the power and presence of God in your life.  Maybe it will be dedicated and disciplined time alone with Him.  He just wants a healthy balance of our time.  Simple.  Not complicated at all.  God knows the appointments you have on your Blackberry or iPhone.  He is distinctly aware of your “schedule” today.  He knows the dance classes you have to get your daughter to.  He understands the games you have to be at.  He knows the gym is important to your health and physic.  He knows.  He really does.  But He also knows how you push Him aside far too often.  He knows He somehow winds up on the bottom of your lists of things to do today.  He thinks that’s unfair.  He is grieved.  He is dealing with the agony of absence.

What about you?  Are you adding to His grief or are you easing His grief?  He just wants our time.  That’s all.   A little time each day.  Prayer, meditation, reading His Word.  That’s all.  Just a little time with Him.  Can you really see His face when we ignore that desire of His?  Can you see the look in His eyes?  Come on!  You know that look!  You’ve been there.  You’ve been the victim of the agony of absence.  When we absent ourselves from spending time with Him – we push Him into the agony of absence.   How about helping me change that!  How about turning the agony of absence into the absence of agony? What do you think?