The Promise of God

“Those who know your name will trust in you, for you, LORD, have never forsaken those who seek you.” (Psalm 9:10 NIV)

One charge by those who are not too fond of God is He is so intrusive. He is always in your business telling you what to do.  Now, granted, God does give a lot of instructions on the way we are to live our lives, but do you know of anyone born with a Bible attached to them?  Perhaps as a child you were forced to read the Bible or go to church, but God was not doing the forcing.  In fact, God gives us the freedom never to pick up the Bible, never to go to church, never to seek Him at all.  God never forces Himself upon anyone.  He has, however, given us enough evidence of His existence and love that we are without the excuse we didn’t know He was even there. (Romans 1:20)  It is then our choice what we do with the evidence.

If we choose to seek Him, we will find Him and can have the confidence He will never forsake us.  Sometimes we will be tempted to feel abandoned by the Lord when things go wrong.  I have known people who start out walking faithfully with the Lord, but then struggle to trust Him when things go bad for them.  The reality is He never promised us a trouble-free life; in fact, He promised just the opposite. (John 16:33)  What He did say is, “I am with you always.” (Matthew 28:20)  He will walk through the valleys with us.  

This is the promise Christians down through the centuries have clung to. While being persecuted and killed for their faith in Jesus, they have held fast to the promise that God is with them and can be trusted.  When Horatio Spafford lost all four of his daughters in a ship collision in the Atlantic, he expressed this trust with the words, “It is well with my soul.”

Today, know if you seek the Lord, you will find Him.  And know if you are seeking Him, He will never abandon you even in the midst of great trials. For many who have come before you have found Him trustworthy regardless of what life brings them.  If you seek the Lord, you will as well.

© Jim Musser 2013