"I will never leave you"

In our staff meeting this week we spent time reflecting on God’s promise in Hebrews 13:5, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” Let that good word sink into your soul:  the Lord who made you and who, in Christ, has rescued you from sin’s guilt and eternal death, promises that your future is secure.  He will never abandon his children and he will never leave us on our own.  Both now, as we walk the path of this rugged life, and on into a glorious everlasting future, our Heavenly Father will most assuredly keep his loved ones with him!

We took time to revel in the beautiful truth that’s packed into this verse—all that God promises to give his children.  But we also made a point of noting what is NOT guaranteed in 13:5—especially physi­cal protection and earthly com­forts.  Now, to be sure, every bit of care and comfort we experience is from the Lord—he’s the Giver of every good gift (James 1:17), including your health and safety and relationships and work…  But in his wisdom God some­times with­holds those temporal benefits that we might prefer in order to accomplish a greater work in and through us (e.g., 2 Cor 12:7-10).

So back to Hebrews—just before 13:5 we’re reminded that some brothers and sisters in Christ were in prison (13:3).  Are we to think that God left and forsook them since their situation was so dire?  And in 10:34 it’s noted that some believers had endured affliction by having their property plundered (as if ISIS had come to town).  And in 11:36-38 we learn that some Christians who gain victory by faith do so on the pathway of suffering and death.  Did God leave and forsake those believers, and then the writer just forgot this sad fact when it was time to write the (empty?) promise we read in 13:5?

NO.  Hebrews 10:34 and 11:36-38 and 13:3 are the God-given frame­work in which to make sense of 13:5:  God may well lead us through great trial even as he holds us tightly in his loving arms; our Lord may well allow us to face even harrowing afflictions as he refines our faith and gives us a platform for witness.  What Hebrews 13:5 DOES promise—what can never be taken from those who trust in Jesus—is his very presence, God’s faithful and eternal friendship:  he promises himself to us, and if we have the Lord, we have enough!