In His Word 4-4-11

The Lord also will be a refuge for the oppressed; a refuge in the time of trouble. And those who know Your name will put their trust in You; for You LORD have not forsaken those who seek You. Psalm 9:9-10 (NKJV)

If God did not forsake the Israelites in their wanderings in the desert for 40 years, he will not forsake you. Not only did He not forsake them, but he blessed them. He gave them manna from heaven, his direction and protection by way of the pillar of fire and cloud, and the Spirit of God instructed them. All this He did for people who ignored the rules and threw fits when they were told where to go and what to do. They even had the gall to tell God that they thought, “He is wrong to think we can go in and claim the land.” They finally claimed the land - forty years later.

What patience our God must have to endure all of that. I am amazed that all he did was swallow a few hundred up in the ground when they blatantly ignored the laws he gave to Moses. He only zapped a couple of them when they desecrated the tabernacle tent by doing things their own way.

Still today, we fuss and fret that He won’t forgive us our sins, that He will punish us for saying the wrong thing or for being occasionally selfish. We worry and trouble our hearts over such foolish things that get us off of what He really wants.

Yes, he wants our obedient hearts, but he also wants a heart of worship. He longs to hear us say, "I love You Lord and I lift my voice to You!" He desires to give us the desires of our hearts but we must first repent of those things we have held dear to our hearts instead of Him. You know the things - pride, selfishness, ambition, rebellion, and greed. These things will hinder us from accepting the fact that God will truly never forsake us.

Even in all this there, nothing we can do will make our Lord walk away from us. He is like gum on our shoes and there is no solvent strong enough to remove Him. I have walked through a parking lot trying to remove gum on a hot day; I am sure you have too. You know how it sticks to this thing and that thing and then continues to stretch around on your shoe? You try to cover it up with dirt, you try to remove it by scraping it with a hard sharp surface and still when you get home and remove the shoe, the gum is still there. Okay, God is not annoying like a wad of gum on your shoe, but you get the idea. He is not going anywhere!

The only time I can find in the Bible that God forsook his own was when he saw his son Jesus nailed and hanging on the cross. That was when Jesus cried out to the Father those words we all remember: 


And at the ninth hour, Jesus shouted in a loud voice, "Eloi Eloi lama sabachthani?" which is translated, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" Mark 15:34

We learn later in the Gospel that God did not really forsake Jesus but raised him from the dead. But I still imagine that the Father turned his face away because He could not stand to see all the sin that was laid on Jesus for us.
 
I can’t stand it when I see one of my children suffer at the hand of another, or even becasue of their own foolishness. My heart rips apart when I hear their tears of desperation at the thought of being forsaken by me. When my child told me that he did not think I cared about a situation, it was as if he was telling me that I had forsaken him. As a mother, I will not forsake my children. There is an inner pulling at my heartstrings that stops me from totally ignoring their pleas for help. I may look away because they have themselves in such an awful situation, but I will not forsake the ones I love.

God will not forsake the ones who seek His face.

I will lead blind Israel down a new path, guiding them along an unfamiliar way. I will brighten the darkness before them and smooth out the road ahead of them. Yes, I will indeed do these things; I will not forsake them. Isaiah 42:16 (NLT)
Yet in Your great Mercies You did not utterly consume them, or forsake them. You are a gracious and merciful God. Nehemiah 9:31 (Amplified)
Indeed the Lord has proclaimed until the end of the world;

"Surely your salvation is coming; behold His reward is with Him, and His work is before Him.” And they shall call them The Holy People, The Redeemed of the Lord; and you shall be called Sought Out, a City Not Forsaken. Isaiah 62:11-12 (NKJV)
We are sought out by God to serve, to love him and one another, and to do his will. He calls to us even before we know who he is. He stands at the door and knocks, waiting patiently. Then after we know Him, he still waits to spend time with us. Have you given in to his desire to spend time with you today?

My health may fail my spirit may grow weak, but God remains the strength of my heart; He is mine forever. Psalm 73:24
Dear Heavenly Father, be the strength of our hearts today and help us to spend time with you. We know that you desire to spend time with us today. Give us the moments of solitude in order to spend them in your presence; for in your presence is fullness of joy. In Jesus' name, amen.

Suggested Readings: Isaiah 42:1-26, Isaiah 62:1-12, Psalm 9:1-20, Psalm 20:1-9, Matthew 27:1-65, Mark 15:1-27, Psalm 73:1-28.