365. Never Leave or Forsake
Hebrews 13:5 Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.
“I will never ever, no never, not ever leave you.” The force of all the negatives piles up until we are left with absolute, positive certainty. Jesus is with us always; we are never alone. The promise could not be more certain. It is given to us both positively and negatively in God’s Word. Itis said that the deepest fear for every child is the fear of abandonment. It is traumatic when it really happens through death or tragedy, and it is ever worse when it happens through divorce or in any other way intentionally.
But being left forsaken can happen and it does happen. Children grow up with security when they are constantly assured that Mom and Dad will always be there no matter what. The children of God have that same kind of security, and they are able to grow up into stable, mature, productive adult Christians. Jesus Christ, the Son of God, was forsaken, abandoned, and left alone by His Father for a time so that we could be guaranteed that we would never be left alone. Not only do we have the security of not being forsaken, we also have the security and freedom from the threat, or even the possibility, of being left alone.
It is because of this “never leave” promise that we may be able to be content with what we have. The result of the promise is that your life can be free from the love of money. This is called covetousness; covetousness in the Bible is called idolatry. We may not readily admit to idolatry, but we must admit to covetousness. The main reason we love money is for security, and we also seek the pleasure and power that money brings. But none of those worldly things will make us more secure and content than having the promise that Jesus will always be with us.
Contentment is an amazing and beautiful fruit of faith in Jesus Christ. Contentment with such things as ye have is an impossible goal to achieve on our own. But with the solid Promise of the constant Presence of God it is possible. Provision and security is guaranteed. If God is for us who can be against us? If God is with us how can we ever lose?