To Encourage You

Hebrews 13:5 “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”

There are certain things that God has said that are there for us to cling to when all seems lost. They are awesome statements of God’s faithfulness that we can look to in times of great need. They are simple yet profound statements of commitment that rise above and go beyond the most difficult circumstances of life.

One such statement, one that I’ve often clung to in the darkest times, is Hebrews 13:5: “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” So often in human relationships where this should be true, we find that it is not. We see parents forsaking – even murdering their own children. We see once-close friends becoming mortal enemies. We see men and women in the most intimate of all human relationships, marriage, divorcing, though at one time they had committed themselves to one another “until death do us part.” Unfaithfulness is such an ugly fact of life in human relationships, but it’s something for which our God can never be accused. Over and over again our Lord shows us this in His Word. Listen to His promises, promises written down for all eternity by the One Who cannot lie:

“Can a woman forget her nursing child, that she should have no compassion on the son of her womb? Even these may forget, yet I will not forget you” (Isaiah 49:15).

“Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me” (Psalm 23:4).

“Be strong and courageous. Do not fear or be in dread of them, for it is the LORD your God who goes with you. He will not leave you or forsake you” (Deuteronomy 31:6).

“Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go” (Joshua 1:9).

“Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel (which means, God with us)” (Matthew 1:23).

“Know therefore that the LORD your God is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations” (Deuteronomy 7:9).

You see, the Lord has given us His Word that He will never forsake us. He has committed Himself to us as a heavenly father to His children (Matthew 6:9), as a friend that sticks closer than a brother (Proverbs 18:24), and as a groom who rejoices over the wife of His youth (Isaiah 62:5). And these things are true no matter the circumstances. Paul saw this throughout his life as his own countrymen turned against him. Although these men mistreated him, he could say with confidence that he was “persecuted but not forsaken” (2 Corinthians 4:9), i.e., not forsaken by God. He’s a God Who loves us with a jealous love. He will never leave us. He will never let us fall. Even when we’ve lost all strength, when the money fails, when everyone else in the world turns their back on us, and even when we fail ourselves, our God, our faithful God, will never leave us nor forsake us.

So, are you in a dark place at this moment? Have people you’ve thought you could trust let you down? Are you at your wits end and don’t know where to turn? Are you in a place of despair that you can’t even explain and that you’re sure no one really understands? If so, look to the One Who has said “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” If you are His child, you are “the apple of His eye” (Psalm 17:8). As the wonderful hymn “How Firm a Foundation” declares in its closing verse, “The soul that on Jesus hath leaned for repose, I will not, I will not desert to his foes; That soul, though all hell should endeavor to shake, I’ll never, no, never, no, never forsake!” You can lean on this truth with all your might, or cling to it when it seems you have no might: He will never leave us nor forsake us, no matter who else may.