Do you ever fear God might abandon you?
“I will keep Your statutes; do not utterly forsake me!” -Psalm 119:8
I used to worry that God might leave me if I didn’t do what I was supposed to, but today there’s not a place in my heart that is afraid of that at all. I don’t have to ask Him not to forsake me; I know He won’t!
How can I be so sure?
Because when Jesus cried out, “My God, my God, why have You forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46) it was a cry that meant two things. It was a sign of my despair on His shoulders, and it was a promise of His triumph on my behalf. It meant that He was taking my place, bearing the abandonment that I should have experienced for my sin.
If you have trusted Christ for salvation, then you can be confident of this today: Since Jesus was forsaken for the sins of the world (1 John 2:2), God will never forsake you for yours!
The Psalmist keeps God’s law in order to receive His favor, but as followers of Christ, you and I have received complete favor through Christ as a gift. That means that now, we get to keep God’s law not out of fearful duty, but grateful love, and no matter how well we “perform,” He will never forsake us.
He will never forsake YOU!
