By Tom Tripp
In the Bible, God makes a promise to be with us always—no matter what we may go through: “The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged” (Deuteronomy 31:8).
The first 18 books of the Bible offer repetitive examples of God keeping that promise so that we, too, can be sure that God will never abandon us!
When Abram left his homeland and moved to a foreign country, God spoke to him, “Do not be afraid, Abram, I am your shield” (Genesis 15:1). When Hagar fled from mistreatment, God met her with assurances of his care for her and her child (Genesis 21). When Jacob’s life was threatened, and he ran away, God met him in a vision of angels going up and down a ladder from heaven (Genesis 28). When Joseph was sold into slavery in Egypt, “the Lord was with him, and…the Lord caused all that he did to prosper” (Genesis 39:3). When two Hebrew parents took the risk of putting their baby in a basket in the Nile River, God was with the child, and Moses was rescued (Exodus 2). When the Israelites escaped captivity in Egypt, the Lord was with them and led them through the desert with a pillar of fire (Exodus 13:21). When Moses died, and Joshua felt incapable of filling his shoes, the Lord said to Joshua, “I hereby command you: Be strong and courageous; do not be frightened or dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go” (Joshua 1:9).
On and on in the first 18 books of the Bible and beyond, we find more and more assurances of God standing with Deborah, Samson, Ruth, David, Hezekiah, Jeremiah, Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego, Esther, Nehemiah and Job.
With the arrival of Jesus in our world, God’s promise never to abandon us reached an even higher crescendo. Since God became one of us in Jesus, and since Jesus died for us, we can be assured that even when we walk through the valley of the shadow of death, God will be with us, walking that way with us, carrying us through.
Paul expresses it beautifully in Romans 8:38-39: “For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Whatever you go through, God will be with you, never leaving you, and never abandoning you!