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I Will Not Leave You

by Jerry Ousley  
7/12/2008 / Christian Living

When I was a young teenager I did something that was just plain mean. My brother and I had a game we played. I'm sure you've most likely played it too. It was a game of trust and required one to stand behind the other. The person in front would then begin to lean backwards and drop into the arms of the one behind him or her. It was a game of trust. The falling person completely depended on the person behind to catch them. Each time the person behind would take a step backwards allowing the person in front to drop a little farther.

One day we were playing this game. I was the person in the back. My brother started falling and I kept taking a step backwards. The temptation became greater and greater and I finally yielded to it. When my brother fell backwards fully expecting me to be there to catch him I folded my arms and let him hit the ground. I told you it was mean. It took some time to win his trust back before we ever played that game again.

In essence I left my brother. I let him down (way down). Jesus was quoted by the writer in Hebrews 13:5 as saying that He would never leave or forsake us. I can almost hear a lover speaking these same words to the beautiful lady of his intentions. He fully means to keep that promise. But it is a lie. We cannot possibly keep that kind of promise to anyone on this earth. That's because it is an unconditional and unending statement. Things happen. We aren't guaranteed another day or another minute for that matter. We can say that as long as we live we will never leave you. But even that is conditioned by our emotions. Should that woman or man do something that hurts us badly, we may not be able to fulfill that promise.

We make such a promise often when we walk down the aisle to marry that man or woman. We normally say, "Until death do us part." Most people mean it when they say it. But an alarming 50% of even Christian marriages end in divorce for various reasons. The divorce rate is slightly lower for the secular population but that is only because so many choose to live together instead of "tying the knot." If we count the split-ups between those who are unwed the rate would be staggering.

Jesus Christ is the only One who can truthfully make such a statement and give the assurance that regardless what we do or say, He will keep it. When He tells us that He will never leave us or forsake us you can take that to the bank.

But there are times when we feel like He hasn't kept His word. Sometimes it feels like He has stepped away and let us fall. So what's the deal with that? The fact is that He has never left. He has remained where He has always been. He's standing there willing and able to catch us. So what happened?

We were the ones who moved. We took too many steps forward. We didn't take in to consideration what the will of the Lord was when we made our move. We often make decisions outside the will of God. When we do often the Lord will allow the consequences to come upon us. Is that because He's cruel and demanding? Is He trying to force us to do it His way? Not at all. In fact He has actually given us the freedom and liberty to stray from Him. We can make our own decisions. We need to realize that those decisions may cost us. We may fail. We may fall.

The good thing is that the Lord's promise is steady and constant. It is true. He will never leave or forsake us. We just need to turn around sometimes and realize that we've stepped too far forward.

Jerry D. Ousley is the author of ?Soul Challenge?, ?Soul Journey?, ?Ordeal?, ?The Spirit Bread Daily Devotional and his first novel ?The Shoe Tree.? Visit our website at spiritbread.com to download these and more completely free of charge.

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