Let’s begin with a couple of promises the Lord has made to His people. Deuteronomy 31:6 says, “Be strong and of a good courage, fear not, nor be afraid of them: for the LORD thy God, he it is that doth go with thee; he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee.” We have the words of the Lord Jesus in Matthew 28:19-20, “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.” We read in Hebrews 13:5, “Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.”

In these verses, and many others, we have the promise of God, who cannot lie, that He will never leave or forsake us. I’m reminded of Psalm 35, when David prayed a prayer of concern to the Lord. We read in Psalm 35:17-22, “Lord, how long wilt thou look on? rescue my soul from their destructions, my darling from the lions. I will give thee thanks in the great congregation: I will praise thee among much people. Let not them that are mine enemies wrongfully rejoice over me: neither let them wink with the eye that hate me without a cause. For they speak not peace: but they devise deceitful matters against them that are quiet in the land. Yea, they opened their mouth wide against me, and said, Aha, aha, our eye hath seen it. This thou hast seen, O LORD: keep not silence: O Lord, be not far from me.” David knew of the Lord’s omniscience and power, yet it seemed the Lord was doing nothing in David’s time of despair. While he did not understand God’s PURPOSE, David never doubted the Lord’s RIGHTEOUSNESS. He goes on to say in Psalm 35:28, “And my tongue shall speak of thy righteousness and of thy praise all the day long.”

Admittedly, there are times when it SEEMS the Lord is not with us, but if we take God at His word, we know that is not the case. Why does the Lord sometimes keep silent when we pray to Him? Why do our prayers seem to fall on deaf ears? Many times we just don’t recognize the beneficial result of suffering. We forget that the life of the Christian necessarily contains sorrow, rejection, and trials. We want immediate deliverance from our troublesome times. However, the Lord often delays his deliverance until we have learned valuable lessons.   We read in James 1:2-4, “My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.”

I trust that you have realized from the Word of God, that the Lord never, ever forsakes His redeemed ones. He allows us times of trouble and trials to strengthen us, teach us, and mold us that we might be “conformed to the image of his Son” as we read in Romans 8:29. We also have the assurance of God’s Word that the Lord will never put more on us than we can handle when we look to Him. 1 Corinthians 10:13 tells us, “There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.” (166.6)