The Never-Forsaking Father (Hebrews 13:5-6)

When
was the last time we thought God left us? Do we turn to what God says
or do we turn to our own fears?

Understand this passage in
Hebrews 13:5-6, “Keep your lives free from the love of money and be
content with what you have, because God has said, ‘Never will I leave
you; never will I forsake you.’ So we say with confidence, ‘The Lord is
my helper; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?”

I want
us to focus on these two statements, “Never will I leave you; never will
I forsake you,” and “The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What
can man do to me?”

Never will I leave you. It is a promise and
assurance that God will never leave us for any sort of reason: sin,
pride, arrogance, ignorance, and selfishness.

Never will I
forsake you. There will be moments where we go through difficult life.
I’ve been talking about hardships, sufferings, and struggles that we
face in our lives, and we feel that God has left us. However, that is
just our “thoughts”.

Therefore, most often, we think that God
left us because we sinned against, which is a justified point and fair,
but that is not true. When we through depression, pain, and stress, we
THINK that God left us.

That passage, “Never will I leave you;
never will I forsake you”, was referenced from the Old Testament verse
in Joshua 1:5. The Israelites were very rebellious against Moses and
Aaron. If you know how the story goes, they weren’t able to persevere
through due to their lack of faith in God. They would rather die serving
Pharaoh the king of Egypt. The story ends like this, they got to the
promise land as God has promised!

They went through a lot of
oppositions on their way. It was not through their own strength that
destroyed their enemies while they were still outnumbered. It was all
because of God’s promise to the Israelites, “Never will I leave you;
never will I forsake you.” It was God’s amazing provision led them to
where to they should go. It was God who was there to defeat the enemies
who opposed them when He said, “I will hand them over to you.” It was
God who handed Goliath, the giant, over to David with a sling and a
stone in one hit.

The antidote to "love of money" is
contentment, which comes from trusting in God’s promised provision (Deut
31:6; 8).

“The Lord is with me; I will not be afraid. What can
man do to me?” This passage is referenced in Psalm 118:6. It applies the
idea of trusting in God for more than just financial needs (even during
persecution, Heb 13:3).

If God was there for them, then no doubt
for us, who believes, that He will not leave and forsake us. Have faith
and trust that God is also our ultimate provider.

As we share
the gospel with our friends, remember what Jesus said, “And surely I am
with you always, to the very end of the age.”

God says, “I will
never leave you. I will never forsake you” Do you hear Him saying it to
you? Does it sound true to you personally? If you don’t have that kind
of assurance of God, then be still and know that He is God and listen to
Him again.