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Morning Devotions By Chris Witts
A couple were devoted to each other and
had been married for over 50 years. But he became ill and eventually died,
leaving her a widow.
At the graveside service, she needed to
sit in a chair due to her age as others stood.
And at the end of the
service, she looked down into the grave and spoke to her dead husband, “You
know I loved you all these years. We’ve been together through thick and thin,
and I promised to be with you. But now I’ve gone as far as I can go. I can’t go
any further. I’ve gone as far as I can go”.
I think it’s a very moving tribute, but
also very true.
When the time comes for our death, who
is there to help?
Yes, there is.
And we only need to look at the pages
of the Bible when God spoke to a man named Joshua after Moses had died.
And God made a
promise to Joshua. “No one will be able to stand up against you all the days
of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave
you nor forsake you”.
This was a powerful promise which is
still relevant today.
God’s word is for
now, and God says that to you and me “I am always with you”.
And for God, a promise is a promise
that will never be broken.
I’m reminded of a remarkable book
written by Dr.Wayne Dyer “A Promise Is a Promise,” a true story of
a mother Kaye O’Bara in Miami who cared for her comatose daughter Edwarda for
many years.
Edwarda was 16 when one night she fell
into a diabetic coma, not able to move.
But as she slipped
into unconsciousness, she appealed to her mother “Promise you won’t
leave me, will you, Mommy?”
“Of course not, I
would never leave you, Darling,” her mother said.
“I promise. And a
promise is a promise!”
And she stayed by her bedside every
day, feeding her every 2 hours and checking her blood and giving her insulin
every 4 hours, until Kaye died 38 years later, in March 2008.
Why did she do it?
Because she told her
daughter “I will never leave you. A promise is a promise”.
She kept that promise for 38 years, 7
days a week. What wonderful strength and tenacity.
God’s
Promise – He Will Never Leave Us
But what drives God to make such a
promise that He will never abandon us?
After all, he’s God – he can do
whatever he wants.
The answer is found in 1 Samuel 12.22.
It doesn’t simply
make the same promise as Hebrews 13.5, but goes one step further and tells us
why. “For the Lord will not forsake his people, for his great name’s sake,
because it has pleased the Lord to make you a people for himself.”
Why will God keep his promise and never
leave us or forsake us?
Because of himself.
Because of his faithfulness.
And because of his pleasure.
Deuteronomy 7.6 tells us that God chose
his people to be his “treasured possession” – in other words, he has
pleasure in his people.
But not because of anything that
depends on us.
Not because we’re good or keep all the
rules or have earned anything.
He will not forsake
his people “for his great name’s sake.”
At the risk of his own name and fame,
he will not forsake his people.
Why? “Because it
pleased the Lord to make you a people for himself.”
He will never leave us because he has
pleasure in keeping his promise, and God does whatever he pleases.
When we hear Kate
O’Bara say to her daughter, “I will never leave you”, there in her
bedroom in Miami, can we not at the same time hear the words of Jesus saying, “Behold,
I am with you always”?
For that is the great promise He has
given to us.
No matter how dark
our days, no matter how bleak our prospects seem to be, that promise is there, “I
am with you always.”
Like Edwarda, as we slip into the
darkness of life, we cry out to the Lord, “Please don’t leave me.”
And His answer is
there for all time, for all eternity, really — ”I am with you always.”
No matter what you’re going through
right now, be encouraged because God is with you!
All you have to do is TRUST Him and
wait for Him.
His timing may be different from yours,
but if you hold on, God will definitely come through for you.
And that’s a promise you can rely upon!
Morning Devotions is a five-minute daily reflection for anyone curious about faith, or looking for encouragement in their walk with God. In his warm and friendly style, presenter Chris Witts — a well-loved Salvation Army minister — shares bite-sized messages applying faith to everyday life.
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