Courtney Gilmore Be strong and courageous. Do not fear or be in dread, for it is the Lord your God who goes with you. He will not leave you or forsake you.
Deuteronomy 31:6
God said He would be with the Israelites when they entered the Promised Land. They would have to fight for it, but God would bring them victory so they had no reason to be afraid. But then the Lord told Moses that after they had been there awhile enjoying the blessings of the land, they would forget who provided their abundance, and they would forsake Him. They would worship the gods of the other nations, instead of the God who brought them victory and blessing. Then because they had forsaken Him, the Lord would forsake them.
The people will rise and whore after the foreign gods among them in the land that they are entering, and they will forsake Me and break My covenant that I have made with them. Then My anger will be kindled against them in that day, and I will forsake them and hide My face from them, and they will be devoured. Many evils and troubles will come upon them, so that they will say in that day, “Have not these evils come upon us because our God is not among us?” I will surely hide My face in that day because of all the evil that they have done, because they have turned to other gods.
Deuteronomy 31:16-18
Will He or Won’t He?
So, what’s going on? Will He forsake them or won’t He? Will He forsake us?
Notice that the people will not only turn away from Him, but they will break their covenant of obedience with Him. God does not break His covenant and He does not turn away forever. Our God cannot break His promises.
God is not man, that He should lie, or a son of man that He should change His mind. Has He said, and will He not do it? Or has He spoken, and will He not fulfill it?
Numbers 23:19
But He also can’t bear to watch them disregard His laws and count His blessings as common. So, it says He hides His face. This is figurative language to help us understand in human terms what God is doing. He still sees what they are doing but He’s not attentive to them anymore. It’s like a parent who sees what their child is doing and just leaves them alone instead of tending to the situation. He really never leaves them. He just withdraws His hand of protection and leaves them to their own devices.
When they reject Him, they reject His blessings. If they quit following His ways and go their own way, then they are allowed to reap the fruit of their doing. When they serve other gods, they receive what those gods have the power to give, which is nothing by the way. But they have to experience that for themselves. Then when they realize their sin, when they see that God is the only One with power, when they repent of their ways, then God is there ready to fulfill His promises towards them.
The Prodigal Son
In the parable of the prodigal son, the dad doesn’t leave his child. His son leaves him and his father lets him. He goes his own way, and his dad doesn’t stop him. He wants him to stay, but he doesn’t force him to when he wants to leave. The son has abundance and blessing in his father’s house, but he wants to go out on his own and do his own thing. The dad never quits loving him. He never stops watching for him to come home. But he has to let his son see where his own ways will take him.
Eventually, the son realizes the love and blessings that he rejected, and he humbly returns home. The father sees his son while he’s still far off, because he’s been watching for him. The son asks only to be treated as one of his father’s servants. But the father says, “No. You are my son.” He doesn’t reject or denounce him. He welcomes him willingly.
Then he celebrates and blesses his son, because it’s what he’s been waiting for all that time. You see, the father never left. He was there all the time, waiting and hoping that his son would come home. Then when He did, the father rejoiced. His son had been lost to him, but now he’d been found again.
God Doesn’t Leave His Children
God doesn’t leave us. Sometimes we leave Him, and sometimes He lets us. But He doesn’t leave His children. We are children and He is our God. He is a good and loving Father. He was only forsaking the Israelites in the sense that He wasn’t forcing them to worship and obey Him. God was loosening His grip on them so they would see the error of their ways and return to Him willingly and humbly.
God wants a relationship with us. He wants our love and our humble, willing obedience. He wants us to see the love He has for us and worship Him because we know that He deserves it. Not because He gives us no other choice.
If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn form their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.
2 Chronicles 7:14
So, if we rebel against God and go our own way sometimes, He still loves us. We never quit being His children. He doesn’t want us to rebel. He wants us to stay in His Presence always. But if we do go our own way, He doesn’t reject us when we turn back to Him. When we repent and humbly ask, He welcomes us willingly back into His fellowship. Then, He celebrates our new-found commitment and we feel His blessings once again.
There will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents, than over ninety-nine just persons who need no repentance.
Luke 15:7
This is an excerpt from Episode 113 “Follow the Leader” on Podcast and YouTube.
Read the lesson that goes along with this episode “Follow the Lord,”
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