When God's Not Around

I'm a little late in blogging about this, but in Elder Kim B. Clark's recent General Conference talk, he quoted John 16:32, in which Jesus says “I am not alone, because the Father is with me.” Elder Clark shared this to remind us that God will be with us to support us in our trials and in our attempts to be righteous. This concept is given additional support by John 8:29, in which Jesus says "and he that sent me is with me: the Father hath not left me alone; for I do always those things that please him." Yet, in last week's Sunday School readings, we read that, during His crucifixion, Jesus said, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" (Matt 27:46; Mark 15:34). It would seem that Jesus felt as though God wasn't there to comfort and strengthen Him, at least not in that exact moment. But we know that Jesus was still perfectly righteous and perfectly worthy of remaining within God's presence, so what happened that prompted Jesus to ask that question, and what implications does that moment have for each of us?

The Come, Follow Me manual goes a long way toward answering the first question simply by quoting Elder Jeffrey R. Holland:

I testify … that a perfect Father did not forsake His Son in that hour. … Nevertheless, that the supreme sacrifice of His Son might be as complete as it was voluntary and solitary, the Father briefly withdrew from Jesus the comfort of His Spirit, the support of His personal presence. … For [the Savior’s] Atonement to be infinite and eternal, He had to feel what it was like to die not only physically but spiritually, to sense what it was like to have the divine Spirit withdraw, leaving one feeling totally, abjectly, hopelessly alone.

(“None Were with Him,” Ensign or Liahona, May 2009, 87–88)

 So, it would seem that God didn't forsake Jesus entirely, but He did temporarily withdraw His Spirit, not because Jesus had done anything wrong, but because doing so would make the test more solitary and complete. As bumper stickers and Facebook posts occasionally remind us, when God seems absent during times of trial, we should remember that the teacher is always silent during a test.

Throughout our lives, we will be tested to see whether we can be trusted to obey God's commandments, and some of those tests involve an apparent lack of support and supervision. The question isn't always just "Will we be good people?" Sometimes, it's "Will we be good people, even when God's not around?"

Over those few days at the end of His mortal life, Jesus faced His ultimate test, and part of the intensity of that test was having to go through part of it without the heavenly aid He rightfully deserved. Yet, Jesus stood firm and passed the test despite the apparent lack of Celestial aid, and so can we.

We occasionally feel like God isn't always around to help us, and it is sometimes our fault that He's not, but we can endure our trials and overcome many of our obstacles, even when it feels like we're not getting God's help in doing so. Sometimes, part of the trial is having to overcome it apparently alone.

Personally, I'm not convinced that God ever leaves us. It seems to me that He always has at least a few of His angels and a portion of His Spirit watching over us, ready and willing to offer their comfort and support when they can, yet that's not always possible, and that's not always anybody's fault. I believe that God is never far away from us, even when we push Him away, but I also believe that He sometimes doesn't make His presence known to us, regardless of our righteousness, if only to make the trials of life a proper test. It's not as much of a challenge to be our best selves when we know that God is there, both to help us and to judge us, but it is a much more daunting challenge to maintain those standards when if feels like God's not around, even if He secretly is.