January 19, 2019

​The Lord is with you, while ye be with him; and if ye seek him, he will be found of you; but if ye forsake him, he will forsake you (2 Chron. 15:2).
 
    These three pronouncements are really one.  In other words, it is strictly up to us.  The Lord is with us as long as we are with Him.  If we seek Him, He will be found.  If we forsake Him, He will forsake us.  Our relationship to God depends upon us.  We may enjoy His presence if we desire it.
 
    When discouraged, we sometimes complain, "The Lord has forsaken me!"  Should we not look closely and honestly into our own hearts?  Possibly we have forsaken the Lord.  How?  By failing to keep the candle of faith aflame.  We stop feeding upon the Word of God.  We neglect prayer.  Soon the witness of the Spirit is gone, and we feel that God has forsaken us, whereas we have forsaken Him.  This forsaking of God on our part is not often a defiant avowal of unbelief, but the easy drift of the tide, the current of the spirit of the age.  We need not remain as spiritual orphans, however, for it is written, "Ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your hearts" (Jer. 29:13).
 
    This is not the time to forsake God.  This is the day to seek Him, to find Him, and to walk with Him to the end.
 
                        I would be, dear Savior wholly Thine;
                                Teach me how, teach me how;
                        I would do Thy will, O Lord, not mine;
                                Help me, help me now.
                                                                __F.E. Belden
 
    Repentance, confession, faith--faith that comes by feeding on the Word (Rom. 10:17)--doing the first works, will bring us again the presence of the Lord, to accompany us day by day.
 
 
    MEDITATION PRAYER: "Leave me not, neither forsake me, O God of my salvation" (Ps. 27:9).