I will never leave you or forsake you.

Do you ever feel abandoned? Forsaken? Forgotten? Alone? Its very easy, if you can forgive me saying it like that, in this Covid time. All over the world, and on our doorsteps, the virus is active and governments are trying to control infection rates by setting limits to our interactions with people. If you are elderly or with specific health problems you are considered especially vulnerable, and need to self-isolate to protect yourself from potentially fatal infection.

I need to tell you that you don’t need to feel alone. God’s promise is true. Deep within our hearts God is with us. We are made in the image of God, so we have a spiritual connection with God, always, if we ask. At present He is holding back His ‘Power’ that people may choose to receive His love and tender mercy, and live for His Kingdom, His will and purposes. Repentance and turning back to His love is a very real blessing.

He needs the surrender of our will, to ask for His will to be done. In the Covid context, when we are broken from our normal ‘pleasures’ and work patterns, we are faced with vulnerable and needing people. Yet God’s will is being done. The poor are being fed, the sick cared for and the imprisoned (in their own homes) are being visited as far as is possible. People are reaching out to others in greater need, and finding joy in giving. Alternative ways of contact are being found and love is growing.

But this Love is not simply in outward signs. We are all being invited to go deeper in in ourselves. Are we focussing only on our own ‘losses’ through this time? Do we listen and hear what God, our Father, is asking us to receive from Him? Unfortunately there is a worse virus than Covid. This is unbelief, which infects our inner, and therefore our outer life. We have come to hold an image of God that fails to embrace His humility and love. Increasingly we don’t believe, and don’t want to believe, in this ogre-god that lies have created.

I once asked God, if there was anything that stopped me receiving His love. ‘Yes,’ I heard, ‘you think of me as a man.’ Having had bad experiences of ‘fathers’ that cut me off from trust, this was not good news!! And this is a problem for many – men and women – that we associate God with attributes of bad parents – and often have given up on Him altogether. And unbelief in a loving God makes persistent living for love difficult, because we have lost our inner Strength and have forgotten the beauty of Trust in Life Eternal.

We all need to turn to the prayer, ‘Lord I believe, help Thou my unbelief’. Let’s not make God in our broken image, but allow Him to build us into His image …the blueprint that is each of us.

It is hard to trust in a loving God if we rationalise away all His loving care and tenderheartedness. How many of us have been aware of a ‘feeling’ that we should , for example, take our umbrella, ring a particular person, look in a particular place when something is lost. I have to confess that over the years I have ignored, or rationalised away many of those opportunities to be blessed by God, or to accept His invitation for me to do His work.

But in my emptiness I am less careless! I am grateful He is with me, blessing me, encouraging me to stand against the temptations to despair. Giving me His Word to feed me, or His eyes to see His work in someone else’s life, makes me rejoice. In our lowliness He is our everything-ness…..and he loves to bless. I have had a trying week when many things failed to work out – but yet I praised God, trusting that in His way ‘all manner of things would be well’. Though things on the outside seemed to be going astray, I felt stronger within.

In fact, though I have no knowledge of how things will work out, I’m still persevering and seeking His heart, mind and will through His Word and Provision. But I’m not defeated. In the end its in God’s hands if I live or die, if this work becomes a ‘non-profit association’ with other people on-board or not. Though this sounds morbid – its actually a celebration of life in Christ, with trust in God.

So I encourage you to see the humble ways that ‘God is with you’ and providing for your humble needs, or your willingness to bless others. I encourage you, and myself, to respond to His promptings for good, and to persevere with all things you ‘know’ you need to do.

Remember God will never leave you or forsake you, but if we ignore Him we cannot then blame Him for not being with us. May we be ever mindful of the humble ways in which we are led in love and unity. Lord have mercy on us.