I don’t believe there isn’t a Christian around who hasn’t felt at one time or another that Jesus had left them high and dry. Their prayers have gone unanswered, the trials in their lives have gone up a notch, with no end seemingly in sight.

When they attend church, it seems that everyone else in the congregation is being blessed by the Lord but them. No one seems to care about their needs or that they are dying inside. They leave church feeling worse than they did when they first arrived. The words, “Why should I even keep trusting in the Lord?” continue to run through their hearts and minds. No hope is left in them. A pretty bleak picture for a person who say they have made Jesus Christ the Lord of their life, right.

Those who don’t know Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior would say, “By looking at your life, give me a good reason as to why I should follow Jesus? I am doing way better than you are my friend and I don’t even go to church or read the Bible!”

When a believer begins to think the Lord has let them down, He has not been to them all that they read in the Bible about the Lord, it opens the door for the enemy, the devil, to come in and plant the only seed he can plant in their hearts/mind, the seed of doubt.

I have walked with the Lord since February of 1976 and I would be lying to you if I didn’t say I’ve had times in my life when I felt the Lord had deserted me and those were very bad times in my life. I would go to church, sing empty praises to the Lord, and wonder if I was just wasting my time with this Christian thing.

Mary Magdalen had gone to the tomb of Jesus to anoint His body and when she got there, she found the tomb empty. Thinking someone had come and taken Jesus’ body to another place, the weight of everything which had taken place, Jesus being beaten and made to carry His cross to His death, finally hit here hard.

The only thing left for Mary to do was weep, and weep hard she did. The Risen Lord appeared to distraught Mary and asked why she was crying so hard. Mary’s deep grief that her Savior and Lord was now dead and missing caused her not to recognize the Risen Lord stood before her. There are times in our life where our deep sadness and grief so overtakes us that we can’t hear or see anything else but that.

The Risen Lord says one word which totally changed everything for Mary; Jesus called out her name, “Mary.” In spite of all her grief and sadness at the time, Mary knew that voice belonged to no one other than her precious Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Mary’s tears and feelings of deep sadness and gloom suddenly went away and they were replaced with overwhelming joy in her heart.

My dear brother and sister, can your hear Jesus calling out your name in the midst of your sadness and grief? The Lord declares in His Word that He will never leave us nor forsake us. Often all He needs to do and speak our name to remind us that His promises are real and true. Are you listening