In this chapter God promises an eternal covenant with His followers, vowing peace and protection over those who are faithful. Though there will still be trials and death for us is this life, our eternity is secure and nothing / nobody on earth can change that.
“Fear not, for you will not be ashamed; be not confounded, for you will not be disgraced; For a brief moment I deserted you, but with great compassion I will gather you. For the mountains may depart and the hills be removed, but my steadfast love shall not depart from you, and my covenant of peace shall not be removed… This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord and their righteousness from me, declares the Lord.” (v4a, 7a, 10, 17 abr)
Follow God long enough, and we will experience moments where we feel abandoned by God. The amazingly good news is God promises to never fully / permanently abandon us. He vows that His steadfast love and peace are harder to remove than the mountains (and those are hard to move).
When we feel God is distant or has abandoned us, it’s often our own fault (at least it is in my case). When we sin (sometimes it’s unknowingly) we create a barrier that makes God feel more distant. How do we fix this perceived distance from God? The simple answer is, draw near to Him: confess any sin, ask for forgiveness, remember Jesus destroyed the barrier between us and God, and spend time in communion with Him (through prayer, scripture, and the church community).
As we intentionally pursue God, we will come to realize that He never actually left us, we (accidentally) left Him. I encourage us to stay near (or return) to God, and He will remain steadfastly present. We don’t need to fear for God is with us; He is our heritage, our righteousness, and our Lord.
Father God, our Steadfast and Loving Lord, You promise to never abandon Your people. May we rest well in that promise, and do all we can to remain near / return to You. Please gently nudge us through Your Spirit, reminding us to spend time with You in prayer, scripture, and community. Please show us the paths of righteousness through Jesus’ examples, and help us to be Christlike examples in this world. In Your holy and awesome name we worship and obey, amen.
~ Conqueror in Training