«It is the LORD who goes before you; He will be with you. He will not fail you or abandon you. Do not fear or be dismayed.» (Deuteronomy 31:8 AMP)
God promises that He will never fail, forsake, or abandon us. Yet there are times in life when we feel abandoned. The danger of feeling is that «feelings» take us right out of the realm of faith, causing us to abandon our convictions, ourselves and even the dreams that God has given us.
Just as Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, we are led into seasons of testing where we learn to live by faith. These seasons seem long and we cause them to be longer than necessary if we resist what God is doing in us.
Parents train their children to one day be adults because there comes the time when the child grows up and takes responsibility for their own life, decisions, and actions. Good parents don’t abandon their children, but they equip them to do things on their own. It’s like learning to ride a bike; the parent is there, and let’s go little by little until the child can ride alone.
Similarly, God takes the training wheels off our bicycles and allows us to fall a few times. That’s how we learn to get back up and to trust even when we can’t see God with us. If we’re not careful though, we’ll mistake training for abandonment and rejection.
What do we do when we feel this way yet are asked to live by faith? Do we abandon our belief in God…in ourselves…in others? Do we abandon the people around us? Do we abandon our dreams, convincing ourselves that God has left us in the season of testing before reaching the promised land?
Don’t let a momentary feeling of abandonment, the lie of rejection, or the appearance of God’s absence cause you to abandon your faith. That dream career, family, business, calling…is all being prepared for you in God’s way, not yours.
He’s gone before you so everything can fall into place in His timing. He is with you in your present and your future. And He will never, EVER, abandon you. Even if you abandon yourself, He is faithful to reignite your faith and bring to completion the dreams that He put inside of you.
