He Will Never Forsake You

2 Chronicles 12: 1 – 16

He will never forsake You

12 Now it came to pass, when Rehoboam had established the kingdom and had strengthened himself, that he forsook the law of the LORD, and all Israel along with him. 2 And it happened in the fifth year of King Rehoboam that Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem, because they had transgressed against the LORD, 3 with twelve hundred chariots, sixty thousand horsemen, and people without number who came with him out of Egypt—the Lubim and the Sukkiim and the Ethiopians. 4 And he took the fortified cities of Judah and came to Jerusalem. 5 Then Shemaiah the prophet came to Rehoboam and the leaders of Judah, who were gathered together in Jerusalem because of Shishak, and said to them, “Thus says the LORD: ‘You have forsaken Me, and therefore I also have left you in the hand of Shishak.’ 6 So the leaders of Israel and the king humbled themselves; and they said, “The LORD is righteous.” 7 Now when the LORD saw that they humbled themselves, the word of the LORD came to Shemaiah, saying, “They have humbled themselves; therefore I will not destroy them, but I will grant them some deliverance. My wrath shall not be poured out on Jerusalem by the hand of Shishak. 8 Nevertheless they will be his servants, that they may distinguish My service from the service of the kingdoms of the nations.” 9 So Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem and took away the treasures of the house of the LORD and the treasures of the king’s house; he took everything. He also carried away the gold shields which Solomon had made. 10 Then King Rehoboam made bronze shields in their place and committed them to the hands of the captains of the guard, who guarded the doorway of the king’s house. 11 And whenever the king entered the house of the LORD, the guard would go and bring them out; then they would take them back into the guardroom. 12 When he humbled himself, the wrath of the LORD turned from him, so as not to destroy him completely; and things also went well in Judah. 13 Thus King Rehoboam strengthened himself in Jerusalem and reigned. Now Rehoboam was forty-one years old when he became king; and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city which the LORD had chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, to put His name there. His mother’s name was Naamah, an Ammonitess. 14 And he did evil, because he did not prepare his heart to seek the LORD. 15 The acts of Rehoboam, first and last, are they not written in the book of Shemaiah the prophet, and of Iddo the seer concerning genealogies? And there were wars between Rehoboam and Jeroboam all their days. 16 So Rehoboam rested with his fathers and was buried in the City of David. Then Abijah his son reigned in his place.

Have you ever felt like God has totally forgotten you and your problems, needs, and deepest desires? I think we all do this at some point in our lives. Do you ever feel rejected by Him? Have you ever made the mistake of taking the actions of people, human beings incapable of the perfect love of our Heavenly Father, and assuming these reactions represent the attitude of God? Sometimes we entertain these very destructive and heretical thoughts that God has forgotten about us. Somehow, even after every proof of His sure and steady love, we doubt His promises.

So, when we have allowed I our thoughts to develop unbiblical statements, we need to get back to the truth. We must answer the question, “Is God even able to forsake me?” The bible is always right so what we read in the book of Hebrews chapter 13 must also therefore be correct, “In light of this verse we must conclude that the answer to that question is a resounding and final ‘no’ remembering that when God makes a promise He always, always, always keeps it.

“Let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, ‘I will never leave you nor forsake you.’ So, we may boldly say: ‘The LORD is my helper; I will not fear. What can man do to me?’” Hebrews 13:5-6

He will never leave you…”— not for any reason; not because of your sin, selfishness, stubbornness, nor waywardness. Have you really let God say to you that He will never leave you?

When I decide to let the behaviors and choices of men cancel out the truths that God so strongly emphasizes in His Word, I am making a grave error. I am giving myself over to heretical thinking. Just because man has rejected me does not mean that God will. If brothers and sisters in the faith forsake me, that does not mean that God will. The truth that I need to remember, recite, and allow to reverberate throughout my being is that God has promised NEVER to leave me nor forsake me. This is not a conditional promise, “I will never leave nor forsake you as long as…” or “I will never leave nor forsake you if you do these things…” It is not a conditional statement. It is a declarative. Then in verse 6 it gets even better because we see that God Is our helper. God! The same One that created the entire universe. The same Father that sent His Son to die on the cross—such a heavy price—so that you and I could be with Him forever. And this verse ends with this important reminder which we all clearly need, “What can man do to me