Eternally With You.
We’ve talked at great length about the wilderness being a place where we feel as though God is no longer interested or active in our wait. As far as we can tell, He’s abandoned us. That’s just not true. Take this to the bank and deposit it for safekeeping: God is always present with you.
This characteristic of God is defined as being omnipresent. It’s a big Bible word we can add to our vocabulary and retrieve when abandonment issues tiptoe into our thought life. Turn the corner of this page down and put a large star by this sentence: Omnipresent means always present; everywhere at the same time. Now, when you feel abandoned, remember to come back here and remind yourself that God is constantly, forever, eternally with you.
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He is never not with me. He is never not with you. (English majors and grammar police, please don’t think about the double negatives.) He is next to us in our wilderness, even if we don’t see Him at work.
Even though we feel abandoned by God, we aren’t. God didn’t abandon Abraham and Sarah. God didn’t abandon the Israelites. God has not and will not abandon you. Try singing these words to the tune of “Jesus Loves Me, This I Know”: “God is with me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so. Though His presence I can’t see, God will not abandon me. Yes, God is with me. Yes, God is with me. Yes, God is with me. The Bible tells me so.”
God didn’t abandon David. He roamed in and out of caves and strongholds. He dodged arrows at the dinner table and fled from the king’s army. For over fifteen years, he wandered and waited for his appointing. But David’s wait did come to an end.
We know we’re waiting well when we truly experience peace in God’s pauses and plans. The peace is demonstrated in the resting of our thoughts and actions. Our real focus becomes a deep and abiding relationship with the Person of our faith, rather than manipulating our circumstances to receive the object of our wait. David waited well by focusing on God, not the problems, the people, or the palace.
And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love.
mia-simone. svenberg 