The Ragamuffin

How many times have you heard an incredible truth about God, or have seen his goodness in scripture or in your life, and thought to yourself..... "Oh, cool." 

I've talked a little on this blog about the fact that this summer was one of the most difficult spiritual seasons of my life. One of the things that made it so difficult was the seemingly consuming apathy that I felt towards God. I would hear his word preached, force myself to pray, open the Bible only to shut it five minutes later, all the while feeling like God was too far for any of it to make a difference.

Since that season has come to a close, God has revealed countless reasons for why it was so hard. God was instilling faith in me that could withstand testing. He was ridding me of some deeply rooted sin. He was preparing me for a quickly-approaching move towards adulthood. Through it all, even when God felt so incredibly far, what I'm now coming to see is that he never left me. He was always working, always molding, and always loving. Where I was quick to think that he had abandoned me, he never once did. Not for one moment. 

When we feel far from God, our sinful natures immediately assume that he has left us. When we conclude that God has forsaken us, we decide that he is not as good or loving as we once thought he was. I now see God's hand all throughout the season in which I thought he was the furthest he'd ever been. He had never ceased to be perfectly good, perfectly loving, or perfectly faithful; however, I did. I would become frustrated at God, allowing myself to lie in sin and doubt. God saw my sin, loved me through it as he always does, and lovingly led me back to himself.  

Not for a moment does he forsake us. Not for a moment does he abandon us. He consistently proves himself to be faithful when we are faithless. He never has, and never will leave us. 

What a comforting truth!