May 12: I will NEVER leave you!

…for He Himself has said, I will never leave you or forsake you. Therefore, we may boldly say: The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?  (Hebrews 13:5,6  HCSB)

This quote of an Old Testament verse in Hebrews is one of the strongest statements in the New Testament! In Greek it has two double negatives, similar in English to saying, “I will never, ever, ever forsake you.” The grammatical structure of this verse makes it stand out among the close to eight thousand verses in the New Testament, and the over seven thousand four hundred promises in the Bible. Because of this we should pay close attention to this promise, clearly the Holy Spirit feels that the message of this promise is of great importance.

When we have faith in God, His presence is immediate. Jesus once said that if two or three were gathered in His name, He would be there in their midst. When Jesus was on earth as a man, He never turned away anyone that came to Him asking for healing, even when they were corrupt thieves like Zacchaeus or demon possessed like Mary Magdalene. He was always ready to help people, especially when they had made a lot of mistakes in their past. Matthew, the disciple that wrote the first book of the New Testament, is an example of this. Jesus called him to be one of the twelve when he was working as a tax collector in Capernaum, a job that meant he had turned his back on his family, the temple in Jerusalem, and his people, all in the name of money. And yet Jesus did not allow all that to cloud His impression of the man. He knew that there was hope for him, and called him to follow Him for the next three years.

We need to be stubborn and determined about God’s presence. He is our helper, and because of that we do not need to be afraid of people or situations. Fear is the enemy of faith. When fear is in control, our faith is at a low, and when faith is in control, fear is banished.

Whenever the thought that God is not with you troubles your mind, react immediately and with full force. Don’t give that thought any room to work. Just like this promise in Hebrews is the most emphatic of the New Testament, our words and reactions should also be extreme when God’s presence with us is questioned.