Thursday, October 6, 2011

God Never Leaves Us Alone

LORD, you know the hopes of the helpless. Surely you will listen to their cries and comfort them. You will bring justice to the orphans and the oppressed, so people can no longer terrify them. -- Psalm 10:17-18

Have you ever given up on God? Have you ever grown tired of waiting and praying? Have you ever believed that God doesn’t hear you anymore? Have you ever felt you were totally on your own? Me too.

I know in my head that God never leaves us. I know that no matter how bad things seem, how hard life gets, God is right there with us every step of the way. I know that. I believe that. But sometimes I forget. How about you?

A sign in front of a local church said: The God on the mountaintop is the same God in the valley. How true. It is easy to believe and to trust, to have hope and deep faith, when you are on that mountaintop. The world is wonderful and life is great.

Then the valley hits. Always. Because that’s how life is. The brilliant light that warmed you on the mountaintop has turned dark and cold in the valley. The longer it goes on, the harder it is to remember the warmth of the sun. Time passes. You cry out again and again and nothing changes. Where is God? Why can’t you hear His voice? Why can’t you see Him? Why can’t you feel His Presence?

Then Satan puts that niggling doubt inside of you. Maybe God has left you in this place. Maybe He has finally given up on you. Maybe God has abandoned you. Maybe, just maybe, you really are on your own. Maybe the only one you have to depend on is yourself.

That’s when we tend to make some serious mistakes because we step out on our own. That’s never a good idea but Satan certainly wants us to think it is. He wants us to believe God has abandoned us so that we will abandon God. Don’t do it.

Trust God. Even when you can’t see Him or feel His Presence. Trust His faithfulness. Keep crying out to Him. Seek Him in all things. And wait for Him to reveal Himself. He will. Always. He will. Because God never leaves us alone. Not ever. Not in good times or in bad. God will deliver us. He will.

So our charge is to hold on to that fact even when our feelings tell us otherwise. Our goal is to keep the faith even when Satan tells us our faith is misplaced. Because faith in God, faith in our Creator, faith in our Father, is never misplaced. God is our rock when we’re in the valley. He is our cheerleader when we are on that mountaintop. He is with us always, until the end of time.