Faithfulness For All Our Fears

There is something about the unconditional love and faithfulness of a dog. My two-year-old grandson Bryce ADORES his dogs—Drake, a Golden Retriever, and Josh, a German Shepherd. Josh only has three legs, but he manages to run and climb stairs despite his handicap.

Bryce and his beloved doggies recently had an incident that was both sad and hilarious to me. My daughter was dropping the dogs off at the kennel before leaving town for a trip. Bryce didn’t understand why she was leaving the dogs there. He thought they were LEAVING THE DOGS THERE FOR GOOD!

He began screaming and crying, “Mama, no! Joshie! Drake! Noooooo!” He was hysterically crying the whole drive home. It was so pitiful because he thought he would never see his dogs again, but it was sweet to see the love between a boy and his dogs.

Aren’t we just like that? We assume that the blessings of God have been taken from us permanently when our security is temporarily taken away. We begin to fear that we will never see the good things that we enjoyed again.

Financial stress brings fear of permanent financial ruin. Divorce brings fear of a lifetime of loneliness. Sickness brings fear of the future. We think God has deserted us because we don’t understand what He is doing. We begin to cry, “God, no! This is too much! I can’t do this!”

When we feel as if God has left us to fend for ourselves, in reality, He is ready to calm our fears with His presence. His love is unconditional, and His faithfulness surpasses any Golden Retriever! He promises in Deuteronomy 31:6, “Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.”

The word “forsake” in this passage is the Hebrew word “azab.” It means to loosen ties with, in a way to leave destitute and without hope. When God promises to never forsake us, He is saying that He never leaves us without hope. He assures us that He will fulfill His promises to walk with us through our difficulties. When I am scrambling to hang on to what is lost, Oh, how I need to learn to let go of what was lost and scramble for God instead!

Next time I am afraid, I will fill in the blank on this verse with my fear and remind myself that I can trust His character of faithfulness. My fear is not conquered by knowing how my story will end, but when I realize that God goes with me into every unknown. I will not be afraid or terrified because of _______, for the Lord my God goes with me; he will never leave me nor forsake me.