I Will Never Leave You

The Bible gives a wonderful promise of God’s presence with us.

“God has said, I will never leave you, nor forsake you.” Hebrews 13:5

That verse quotes Moses’ word to the Children of Israel before they entered the Promised Land.

“The Lord Himself goes before you. He will be with you. He will never leave you or forsake you. Do not be afraid or discouraged.” Deuteronomy 31:8

Jesus affirmed this promise before He left His disciples, after His resurrection from the dead.

“Behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the world.” Matthew 28:20

If you have ever been left to fend for yourself you will know what a devastating thing that can be. And when a child loses their parent in a crowd the feeling can be quite terrifying.

If must be a very bitter thing to face deep life challenges and to feel completely alone, left only to your own weakness.

We never need to feel or fear such situations, since God and Jesus have promised to be with us forever.

When we have that sudden feeling of being lost we usually look up to see where our parents or others are. Once we see them we get a lovely sense that the world is fine again. We drop our sense of alarm and get back to doing what we were doing.

Or, we might move closer to them if we feel the distance is too great. We might even call out to them to hold up and wait for us if we think that’s needed.

However we do it, we reconnect and strengthen the connection, until we feel that all is well again.

We can do that with the Lord as well. When you get a sudden panic attack that somehow you might have to handle difficulties on your own, or that you have lost touch with God and His love and care, you can cry out to Him and reconnect.

Prayer and crying out to the Lord are great ways to reconnect. That’s what King David did every time he felt afraid or vulnerable.

“I cried to the Lord with my voice, and he heard me out of his holy hill.” Psalm 3:4

“This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles.” Psalm 34:6

Many people enjoy being in church or entering a church building during the week, for there they feel they can be close to God. That’s lovely, but God is actually with us outside the church as well. God lives within us.

“If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him.” John 14:23

“We are the temple of the living God.” 2Corinthians 6:16

“Christ dwells in your heart, through faith.” Ephesians 3:17

The Lord never abandons us because He is within us and travels with us, where ever we go. We may feel alone at times but we can never be alone any more. The Lord is with us.

That brings a lovely reassurance to our lives. I recall being at home alone in my youth, waiting for the sound of my parents returning from somewhere. Hearing the car arrive and my parents enter the house brought a sweet sense that the world was normal and complete again. I didn’t have to go out and greet them, or hug them. I might already have been in bed, and just rolled over and gone to sleep. The sense of sweet assurance came just from knowing their presence.

That’s the kind of comfort we take with us through life.

Along with that is the lovely sense that our Heavenly Father is with us and He can solve the problems we don’t know how to fix. In my childhood our family went on annual holidays that meant long drives to far off holiday spots. At times we had motor troubles and flat tyres. Those issues were Dad’s domain. He was there to keep us going and fix all the problems.

So too, the big issues are in our Heavenly Father’s hands. He, like our Dad, may assign us a task or two and call us to do our part, but the problem has been entrusted to Him and he takes executive responsibility.

So the promise that God will never leave us carries all that comfort and protection. Just as a Dad is on hand to save us from things too big for us, God is on hand to save us out of all our troubles, as King David knew.

So are you in a dark spot at the moment? Do you have troubles that are bigger than you? Are you feeling vulnerable and alone? Are you aware that you don’t have the strength to get through what is before you?

Remember that God is with you. Hand your situation and your problems to God. Cast your cares onto Him, because He cares for you (1Peter 5:7). And reassure yourself with God’s promise that “I Will Never Leave You!”