Can I trust God in this wilderness, or has He forsaken me?

March 25, 2014: Can I trust God in this wilderness, or has He forsaken me? Please SHARE this new Precious Prodigal Blog Post: http://bit.ly/1gykWsv

Num 23:19 “God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?”

I’ve been writing about Hezekiah, king of Judah, and how he responded to the threats of Sennacherib, the Assyrian king. By way of review, Hezekiah was in the most desperate of circumstances. Sennacherib had defeated the entire northern kingdom and had captured every walled city in Judah except Jerusalem. When Hezekiah received the first threatening letter from the Assyrian king, he first humbled himself and went to the house of God. Then he sent a message to Isaiah asking him to pray.

Now a second, more threatening and even more outrageous letter is given to Hezekiah. This evil and arrogant Assyrian king had already told the people they could not believe King Hezekiah, nor could they trust that God would deliver them. His first letter to Hezekiah said much the same thing. However, this second letter goes a lot further than that. He told Hezekiah not to let the “God in whom thou trustest deceive thee…” (2 Kings 19:10) The arrogance of this wicked man astounds me. I want to say, “How dare you!” because my omnipotent, faithful God not only cannot fail. He also cannot lie. That meant Hezekiah could trust Him. It also means we can believe and trust that what He says He will also do.

It isn’t easy to continue trusting God when our circumstances are overwhelming. It could be the years of praying for your prodigal only to be disappointed over and over again. But it could just as easily be the disease you have fought against for weeks or months, a loss you don’t understand, or waiting for that right person to love you when you’ve waited so long without a life’s partner. Life is hard and when we’re facing a seemingly endless or hopeless problem, it’s not surprising if we begin to have doubts. But God is bigger than my doubts, and He is bigger than yours. And He will not…He cannot lie.

I take comfort in knowing that one of the names for God is "Faithful and True." (Rev 19:11) Because of that, I can believe Him when He says He will never leave me nor forsake me no matter how desperate my circumstances seem to be. (Deut 31:6). I can trust Him to be by my side even in those times when there seems to be no hope, when I am “passing through the waters and through the rivers…” (Isaiah 43:2) There are times when my faith is shaky, but God’s faithfulness doesn’t depend on my strength either. He is faithful because it is in His nature to be faithful.

What are you facing today? Do you feel surrounded, without hope and with nowhere to turn? I can assure you that you are not alone…you’re not alone in that others are facing the same heartaches or fears that you are. But you also are not alone because your faithful God…the One who cannot lie…has promised He will walk this hard path with you. Will you let Him?

Challenge for Today: Can you, just for today, look to the God who is bigger than your problem and believe that He will be and is there for you?