Isaiah 51: When We Feel Abandoned
Sunday, October 12, 2025
These are the first words that greeted me this morning in my email inbox. They are from the Richard Rohr site to which I subscribe and currently Rohr is sending messages from his newest book, BREATHING UNDER WATER. The title – and the meditation message below – speaks to anyone who has suffered deeply, and to anyone who longs to suffer well.
“Only people who have suffered in some way can save one another—exactly as the Twelve Step program discovered. Deep communion and dear compassion is formed much more by shared pain than by shared pleasure. Only those who have tried to breathe under water know how important breathing really is, and will never take it for granted again. They are the ones who do not take shipwreck or drowning lightly, who can name “healing” correctly, who know what they are being saved from, and who develop the patience and humility to ask the right questions of God and of themselves.
“You see, only the survivors know the full terror of the passage, the arms that held them through it all, and the power of the obstacles that were overcome. Those who have passed over eventually find a much bigger world of endurance, meaning, hope, self-esteem, deeper and true desire, but most especially, a bottomless pool of love both within and without”.
From BREATHING UNDER WATER: SPIRITUALITY AND THE TWELVE STEPS, pp. 123,124,125 http://cacradicalgrace.org/resources/breathing-under-water
Here we have clear instructions for what to do when we are deeply troubled, for when we believe that we do not fully understand God’s plan, for when we may even feel abandoned by God.
Listen to me . . . we are instructed. I will help you to breathe under water. I will sustain you in a world that feels foreign to you.
Look to the rock from which you are hewn . . . God says to us. You are made in my image. I love you dearly. I will never leave you.
Be attentive to me . . . God calls out to us. I exist through all time and space as do you. I speak to you now. I am telling you that you will never fail.
Raise your eyes to the heavens and look at the earth below . . . we are challenged. Choose life or death. Choose your own plan or mine.
Fear not the reproach of others . . . we are cautioned. Their opinion means nothing in the light of eternity. Follow the law rather than the whimsical judgment of those who chase after power, status and reputation.
Awake, awake, put on strength . . . God urges us. I know that you are weary but my burden is light and my shoulders are broad. I carry many but I long to carry you.
Hear me, you who know justice, you who have my teaching in your heart . . . God does not waver, God does not give up. I, it is I who comfort you. I am the Lord you God. I have put my words into your mouth. I have shielded you in the shadow of my hand. I stretched out the heavens; I laid the foundations of the earth. I am here to rescue you.
So when we are fear-filled, we must remember to ask for the grace, patience, and wisdom to discern God’s hand in all that happens around us. When we feel abandoned, we must keep the arms of Jesus wrapped round us. When it seems that all is hopeless, we must abide in the faith that God the Father knows all and keeps his promises. When we are deeply troubled, we must ask intercession for those who have harmed us and done us damage. When we feel utterly alone, we rest in the understanding and solace of the Holy Spirit. And when we are healed, we turn to others to pass along the wonder of God’s love.
A re-post from September 17, 2011.
Images from: https://blog.padi.com/what-is-scuba-diving/
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