Saturday, August 27, 2016

"The Nevers" Part 6 Never Away



"The Nevers"

Part 6

Never Away
   

   
Father, are You there?
No, My child, I am not there,
I am here, nearer than any other.

And I will always be not there, but here,
of this you can be sure, 
and this you will discover

as the years roll on, and eternity draws nigh,
I am with you always, 
so near, so much nearer than any other.

   
    We seek to stress the living and involved presence of God in these devotionals, or the gift of Himself as provided by the indwelling Holy Spirit to every believing heart.

    "I will never leave thee nor forsake thee" (Hebrews 13:5).

    God made human hearts as His dwelling place, "the temple of the living God" (II Corinthians 6:16).  When we trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, our Heavenly Father sends His Spirit to occupy eternally abiding residence in the innermost depths of our being.  "He that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit" (I Corinthians 6:17).  He faithfully enters our spirits as a gift of the most freely given grace.  He faithfully remains in our spirits, again, as a gift of the most freely given grace.  No human heart ever deserves the entrance or the abiding.  God rather blesses us with the gift of Himself upon the basis of rending Himself from the spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross of Calvary.

    "My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?"! (Matthew 27:46).

    The One who had eternally known the loving presence of His Father and the Holy Spirit experienced their absence as He suffered and died alone for our sins.  We cannot imagine the horror of such loss, other than to know that any loneliness we have ever known pales in comparison to the broken heart of the Lord Jesus.  "We did esteem Him stricken, smitten of God" (Isaiah 53:4).  This we can know: the "Never" of God's absence from our own hearts graces us because our Savior cried out into the darkness of Calvary, seeking His Father and the Holy Spirit, but receiving no reply.  Indeed, no answer came because no one was there.  Our Savior purchased the gift of "I will never leave thee nor forsake thee because He was left, He was forsaken.

   Such truth transcends our complete understanding even as it transforms our hearts.  It is no small thing as we awaken to each day in the confidence of God's presence.  The fact of it is wondrous as we live our lives in His loving involvement, provision, communion, and purpose.  The cost of it, however, seems just as wondrous, and it is.  The loneliest Soul that ever was makes possible our eternally occupied spirits.  The Lord Jesus promised such grace, the gift of Himself, and then suffered, died, and rose again to provide it.  Wondrous indeed, and glorious as we live this day and forevermore in the "never to leave thee nor forsake thee" made possible by the sorrow of Calvary…

"I am with you always."
(Matthew 28:20)
"He hath made Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him."
(II Corinthians 5:21)
"Ye are the temple of the living God" (II Corinthians 6:16).

Weekly Memory Verse
   Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.
 (I Timothy 1:17)




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