What Does Forsaken Mean in the Bible?
- Clarence L. Haynes Jr. Contributing Writer
- Published Apr 29, 2022
"Though my father and mother forsake me, the Lord will receive me." – Psalm 27:10
"I was young and now I am old, yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken or their children begging bread." – Psalm 37:25
There are many verses in Scripture that speak about being forsaken, or from God’s perspective not forsaking you. For this article, there is one objective: to broaden your perspective on what forsaken means. It may be easy to gloss over that word, but it becomes much harder when you understand what this word really means.
What does it mean to forsake?
To forsake means to abandon, to desert, to renounce, or to turn away from entirely. When I think about forsaking someone, it gives me the impression of turning your back, running away and never coming back. Knowing what forsaken means provides greater clarity when you see it in Scripture. For example, look at the verses we mentioned earlier, and let’s add the definition of forsaken into the verses.
- Though my father and mother abandon, desert, renounce and turn away from me entirely, the Lord will receive me.
- I was young and now I am old, yet I have never seen the righteous abandoned, deserted, renounced, or turned away from entirely.
When you read it with that understanding hopefully it makes the verse come alive to you and gives it deeper meaning. Here is a good exercise for you. Now that you know what forsaken means, the next time you are reading the Bible, incorporate the definition into the verse and see how it deepens your understanding.
Forsaking and God’s promise.
Let’s raise the bar of understanding what forsaking means and let’s begin to apply it to some of the promises God has made in his Word. One of my favorite promises in the whole Bible is found in Hebrews 13:5.
“…Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.”
Let’s make the same application and add the definition into this verse to understand what God is telling you.
- Never will I leave you: never will I abandon you, desert you, renounce you, or turn away from you entirely. If this verse doesn’t encourage you about God’s faithfulness towards you, I am not sure what will. God has set his intention towards you and has promised that no matter what happens in this life he will not abandon or forsake you.
In my opinion, this is truly one of the most powerful promises in all of Scripture.
The other side of forsaking.
When you look at this closer there are two sides to what forsaken means. Until now I have looked at it from God’s attitude towards you knowing that he will not forsake you. However, there is another question to think about when you think about what forsaken means. What does it mean that we forsake God? Consider this exchange in the book of Judges.
"The Lord replied, “When the Egyptians, the Amorites, the Ammonites, the Philistines, the Sidonians, the Amalekites and the Maonites oppressed you and you cried to me for help, did I not save you from their hands? But you have forsaken me and served other gods, so I will no longer save you. Go and cry out to the gods you have chosen. Let them save you when you are in trouble!” – Judges 10:11-14
In verse 13, God is telling the Israelites they have forsaken him. Remember the definition and see the gravity of this statement. Though God was faithful to Israel God says they abandoned, deserted, renounced, and turned away from him to serve other gods. What a tragic statement when you understand what this word means. This is the side of forsaken you don’t want to be on.
Forsaken and the cross.
There is another time this word 'forsaken' was used that requires our attention. Jesus used this word when he was on the cross.
“About three in the afternoon Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” (which means “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”).” – Matthew 27:46
Here we see Jesus crying out asking God the Father why have you forsaken me? When you consider the definition of the word we have been using, this leads to a very poignant question. Was God abandoning, deserting. or renouncing Jesus? In this instance, the answer is no. What God had to do for this one moment was to turn away or look away from Jesus. Just so you understand the reason why, many believe it was at this very moment that the sin of the entire world was placed on Jesus. At that exact moment, this scripture became alive and active.
"God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God." – 2 Corinthians 5:21
Prior to this moment for all eternity, there had never been a separation in the fellowship between Jesus and the Father. However, in this one instance when God judged the sin of the world by placing it on Christ, this is what he experienced. God had to look away or forsake him, as the Savior took on the sin of the world.
Forsaken and you.
After looking at all these things it is now time to consider what forsaken means for you? We have already established that God will not forsake you which is a promise you can build your life upon. The question I would like to ask you is simple but necessary, will you forsake God? Before you answer that, consider for a moment some of the ways we can forsake God.
We can forsake God in prayer:
I know we don’t associate forsaking God and prayer but when we go back to the definition how often do we abandon prayer. Instead of prayer being the place we run to first, many times it is the place we run to last and sometimes not at all. After exhausting every other option, then we turn to prayer. Let’s make sure we never forsake God in prayer by making prayer the top priority in every area of life.
We can forsake God in worship:
Why do we forsake giving God worship? Many times, we do this because we connect our worship to our circumstances. When things go well, then the worship flows but when the challenges come, worship gets deserted. Let’s remember that worship is about God’s worth, not about the things he has done for you. When you focus on who he is then you will never forsake worship regardless of what is going on in your life.
We can forsake God in giving:
This is one we all may struggle with at times. When the money is flowing, giving can be very easy and natural, requiring little worry or concern. But what happens when the money gets tight? Trust me, I know how that feels, and the response is sometimes you can forsake God in giving. For many, this is not the intention, but it is the result. I am not trying to be legalistic or judgmental so please don’t take it that way. What I want you to remember is even when things get tight, keep trusting God in giving because he will be faithful to you. There may be seasons where you cannot give as much as you would like but nevertheless, don’t forsake God in your giving.
We can forsake God in evangelism:
In this area, I believe we all could use more encouragement. We tend to get it wrong with evangelism and often we spend too much time being upset and angered by what “sinners” are doing. Somehow we forget that our role is not to be angry or judge the sinner, but to shine light for them. Let God be the judge, you focus on being the light. Being the light requires love, patience, kindness, and grace. It should be no surprise these were the things God showed us when we were sinners and lost. It was his love and kindness that drew you to him and led you to repentance. Let’s never forget that as we seek to win the lost.
We can forsake God in discipleship:
For this one I don’t just want to speak to individuals, I want to address any pastor or leader who happens to read this article. One of the last things Jesus told us to do was go and make disciples. This means we cannot abandon discipleship after someone has been converted. We must all do a better job of helping those who are believers at all levels, become true disciples of Christ. This will take time, commitment, and dedication, and let’s face it discipleship may get a little messy. However, if we are going to do this right, we can’t just get excited when there is a new convert, we must remember the real work of discipleship has just begun.
As you can see forsaken has different connotations for God and for us. For you and me we can live knowing we have a God who will not abandon us under any circumstance. Our desire should be to give back to God that same commitment and remain faithful to him through all the seasons of life. Always remember the one who will never forsake you is worthy of your devotion. You can be confident knowing he will be with you and will never forsake you no matter what happens in this life. I will leave you with God’s own words and promise, never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.
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