Forest Glen Bible Camp Nova Scotia, Canada

by Jeff Reason Sr.

Have you ever found yourself in the midst of a trial, crying out to God and not able to find him? Job did. He said, "Even to day is my complaint bitter: my stroke is heavier than my groaning. Oh that I knew where I might find him! that I might come even to his seat! Behold, I go forward, but he is not there; and backward, but I cannot perceive him." (23:2-3,8) When trials knock at your door in the form of losing a child, a parent or a spouse; or hearing the cruel words of a friend; or seeing yourself or another family member worsen in health; or watching your child turn his back on God, you immediately go to God for help. As the days of trial become weeks and weeks become months and your load seems too heavy to bear, please be assured of one precious truth. When you don't seem to be able to find God, but truly seek after Him, the Spirit of God intercedes for you with "groanings which cannot be uttered." (Romans 8:26) I picture a helpless burdened believer who is on his face before a holy God, speechless, because the burdens are so great! It is then that the Holy Spirit approaches God the Father on behalf of that weary believer and cries out feeling the depths of that believer's aching soul and pleads with the Almighty God for grace and strength for His servant.

It is in this valley that we find God's richest blessing and realization that God is my God and He is enough! His promises become more than soothing words on a page, they reach to the farthest part of our inner being and lift us from the sinking sand in which we have fallen. Remember, God never left you. He says, "lo I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world." (Matt.28:20) He allowed the dark valley, so that you might see Him as the Everlasting Peace that shall always be your rest from every care. Grasp the horns of His altar and don't let go until God opens the windows of Heaven and pours Himself into your soul. That valley is worth the rich blessing of experiencing an unusual closeness to our God. God gave Job "twice as much as he had before." (42:10) Several times, in the final chapter of this book, he is called, "my servant, Job" What a reminder that the Lord knows His sheep and leads them day by day and will NEVER leave us nor forsake us. Rest in Him!

SELAH:  Meditate on this!!!

Psalm 43:5 - "Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me? hope in God: for I shall yet praise him, who is the health of my countenance, and my God."

Jeremiah 32:17,27 - "Ah Lord GOD! behold, thou hast made the heaven and the earth by thy great power and stretched out arm, and there is nothing too hard for thee. Behold, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh: is there any thing too hard for me?"

Comments by J. C. Ryle
"I will NEVER leave you nor forsake you" (Heb.13:5)

Let every believer grasp these words and store them up in his heart. Keep them ready, and have them fresh in your memory; you will need them one day.

The Philistines will be upon you, the hand of sickness will lay you low, the king of terrors will draw near, the valley of the shadow of death will open up before your eyes.

Then comes the hour when you will find nothing so comforting as a text like this, nothing so cheering as a real sense of God's companionship.

Stick to that word, "never". It is worth its weight in gold. Cling to it as a drowning man clings to a rope. Grasp it firmly, as a soldier attacked on all sides grasps his sword. God has said, and He will stand to it, "I will never leave you, nor forsake you."

NEVER! Though YOUR HEART be often faint, and you are sick of self, and your many failures and infirmities overwhelm you-even then the promise will not fail.

NEVER! Though THE DEVIL whispers, "I shall have you at last; yet a little time and your faith will fail, and you will be mine."

Even then the Word of God will stand.

NEVER! When the cold chill of DEATH is creeping over you, and friends can do no more, and you are starting on that journey from which there is no return - even then Christ will not forsake you.

NEVER! When the day of JUDGMENT comes, and the books are opened, and the dead are rising from their graves, and eternity is beginning - even then the promise will bear all your weight; Christ will not leave His hold on your soul.

Oh believing reader, trust in the Lord for ever, for He says, "I will never leave you."

Lean back all your weight upon Him, do not be afraid. Glory in His promise. Rejoice in the strength of your consolation. You may say boldly, "The Lord is my Helper, I will not fear."

Poem by --Annie Johnson Flint

Have you come to the Red Sea place in your life,
Where in spite of all you can do,
There is no way out, there is no way back,
There is no other way but through?

Then wait on the Lord with a trust serene
Till the night of your fear is gone;
He will send the wind, He will heap the floods,
When He says to your soul "Go on."

And His hand will lead you through - clear through -
Ere the watery walls roll down,
No foe can reach you, no wave can touch,
No mightiest sea can drown;

The tossing billows may rear their crests,
Their foam at your feet may break,
But over their bed you shall walk dryshod
In the path that your Lord will make.

In the morning watch, ‘neath the lifted cloud,
You shall see but the Lord alone,
When He leads you on from the place of the sea,
To a land that you have not known;

And your fears shall pass as your foes have passed,
You shall no more be afraid;
You shall sing His praise in a better place,
A place that His hand has made.