Even when He feels far away
Text - Isaiah 49:15-16
I was blown away when I began to search to see how many times the Lord said He will never leave nor forsake his chosen ones. Fam, His promises to never leave nor forsake His own are MANY. One of the most profound that summarizes the many I found is this one:
““Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you! See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands; your walls are ever before me.”(Isaiah 49:15-16 NIV)
It is no coincidence that my baby was born last week and when I got the opportunity to write, the Lord brought this to my mind. See, my baby is my wallpaper, she’s always on my mind, I think about her before I go to bed, and I look at her pictures every time I get the opportunity to do so.
I’m obsessed and today I’m reminded that God, our Everlasting Father, is also obsessed! He has engraved us on the palms of His hands He says!
Have you realized that your palms are one of the body parts you see the most? You see your palms many times everyday because with your hands you do a lot of work. God, in this verse was trying to stress the fact that His eyes are always on us.
“What can separate us from the love of Christ?” the Apostle Paul asked. Nothing. He has promised never to leave us nor forsake us through thick and thin, through fear, through famine, through sickness, through stress, through the good times and through the bad times. He said:
“When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze.”(Isaiah 43:2 NIV)
It is easy to believe that God is with us in the good times but how about in the tough and dark moments? His word is yea and amen my brothers and sisters. My wife had to go through Caesarean section to birth our baby and when the baby was born, she was jaundiced. It felt like all our prayers were not answered, but after we cried and prayed, we received comfort and encouragement from the same God who let all these happen. “If not for God, this situation would have overwhelmed us,” we said. We were so grateful we knew God and we were so grateful for the comfort we received from Him. We were exposed to a new side of our faith. At the end of the day, that phase passed, God made our family and friends to stand by us, and He provided all we needed and more.
Yes, sometimes the answers to our prayers do not come exactly the way we’d like them to but ultimately Jehovah works all things around for our good. It’s a fact.
“And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”Romans 8:28 NIV
We serve a good God and a loving Father. He will never, ever, leave us nor forsake us. Our faces are ever before Him and like He said in Isaiah 49:15, “Though she may forget, I will not forget you!” He loves us more than our mothers do!