God will never forsake you!

“Be strong and courageous. Do not fear or be in dread of them, for it is the Lord your God who goes with you. He will not leave you or forsake you.”  (Deut 31:6)

When I was growing up, I lived with many different families and was often moved along before I got to know them very well. One family was an exception; I stayed with them for a few months. They had a boy named “Jimmy” about my same age; we shared a room, and we soon felt like brothers. After I left, I did not hear from him for nearly forty years until he reached out to me on social media. It was immediately evident that we had led very different kinds of lives! I had become a pastor, and he had become an activist-atheist who daily filled his social media postings with horrible anti-God propaganda. I asked him how he had become an atheist, and he answered with all the typical heartfelt but baseless nonsense. I asked him about his parents, and he said they had gotten divorced. He said he continued to live with his father until his 16th birthday. Then his father got a new girlfriend who consumed his life. Soon after, his father took him to a big city, handed him some money, and said, “Don’t ever contact me; I never want to hear from you again!” His father had rejected and abandoned him. Each time I mentioned his father during our conversation, he bristled with anger and finally said, “Don't talk about my father anymore; I hate him!”

After hearing his story

I think I understand the reason Jimmy is an atheist; he has transferred his feelings of rejection, abandonment, and great emotional pain to God. I wish he would have allowed me to speak to him about God (he wouldn't), because I would have assured him that God loves him dearly and would never abandon him like his earthly father did. 

Therefore

“It is the Lord who goes before you. He will be with you; he will not leave you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed.” (Deut. 31:8 ESV)