WHY the Lord Will Never Leave You
If you've grown up in the church or been around Christians for any amount of time, I'm sure you've been told that God will never leave or forsake you. And it's true! He won't! But there have been many, many moments that I struggled to believe that truth. I knew it with my head but not with my heart, and I wrestled with feeling like He had left me or was no longer present in my life.
This lie came up in my life in multiple sneaky ways, but the biggest being the thought that it's my fault God is far, and that I deserve to be distant from Him. I often have wondered if I sinned or messed up, and my consequence was that God was far from me. I've felt guilty for not praying enough, and believed that I was the reason God "left" me. Maybe for you, this lie comes up when you're walking through really hard situations, and you feel like God stopped caring about you. Or you've been hurt by others, and wonder why God allowed that to happen, leaving you feeling hurt by Him, too. No matter what way this feeling shows up, I hear you, and I know the weight of that. It is so hard to feel far from the Lord, and in our human nature, we want to justify it, solve it, and find a solution for it.
One weekend I was wrestling with this, and I kept falling back into the lie that I had messed up too many times, and so God was distant. He hadn't left, and I knew with my head that He still loved me, but I believed that my sin caused a chasm between us.
That Sunday, though, as I was worshipping at church and trying to reconnect with the Lord, the Father spoke such TRUTH into my heart that has completely reframed the way I think about feeling far from God. This revelation was honestly kind of simple, but it was so profound to me, and really, really encouraged me, so I'm very excited to share this with you today!
God reminded me that He would never leave me because I am His child, and good Father would never leave His child. If He left me, that would mean He is no longer good - so if I believe that He is gone or is far, then I'm also believing that the God I serve is not good. He reminded me that He has gone through all of the work, process, and effort of adopting me as His daughter, and that He would not do all of that simply to be far. He delights and desires me, and has relentlessly pursued me, going all the way to the cross, so it doesn't make any sense for Him to leave. And, if He is asking me to come closer to Him, why would he be absent when I show up? Does that sound like the Father's character, to stand me up?
No, no, no! That is not the character of God!
This seems so simple, yet so often, I forget it. I get so caught up in my emotions, trying to make myself feel better, that I don't slow down and meditate on who God is or all that He has already done for me. I get so distracted that I take my eyes off of the truth, and that is the opposite of how I should respond.
At the end of the day, we can't just know what the Bible says. We have to believe, and a lot of times, we have to know why it says what it does, and that means knowing the Father's heart. We have to meditate on, chew on, and contemplate these verses we've been told all of our lives. I never once asked why God wouldn't leave me, but I've told myself that over and over again (which usually was not all that comforting). But the moment I realized why God wouldn't leave me, why He isn't far, my spirit was instantly set at peace. Why? Because it drew me closer to the character of God. It required me to go deeper into who He is, instead of simply what I already know about Him.
This is so powerful to me, guys, and I hope that this hits home with you, too. It's time we stop taking Scripture at face value and go deeper. We need to start asking the "why" questions, and really evaluate what we believe about God.
No matter what your emotions say, no matter what the enemy says, no matter what anyone around you says, God has not left you, and He is not far. He is a good Dad, who takes care of His children. He is everpresent and hears every prayer. He knows every desire of your heart, every disappointment and celebration. That is why He will never leave you - because of His character, not because of anything you could or could not do. His presence is not dependent on you at all.
Now, sometimes He may feel far because we live in a broken world, and sometimes our emotions are all over the place. Sometimes God doesn't give us miraculously emotional experiences of His presence every day, because He doesn't always give us what we want when we want it. Regardless, our faith shouldn't be built on emotional experiences; it should be based on the truth found in Scripture and understanding who God is. I don't need a spiritual high or mountaintop experience to know God is good, because He has revealed Himself to me in so many other ways. I will stand securely on the truth, not on what my feelings say, because they waver and change faster than the Kansas weather. My rock and my foundation is Christ ALONE, not my feelings.
Ultimately, when the enemy or our flesh plants lies in our mind about who God is, it is so crucial that we address them immediately. When we start believing half-truths or flat out lies, it impacts the way we see and interact with the Father, and that is so dangerous (and exactly what the devil wants). I want nothing more than to be close with my Abba, so I want to take every thought captive and do my part in this battle to draw nearer to Him.
When God feels far, how do you combat those feelings? What lies are you still struggling with in regards to this area? Let me know in the comments below, and I'd love to walk alongside you through that!
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