“I will never fail you. I will never abandon you” (Hebrews 13:5).
This is one of my favorite promises of God in the Bible. It is so powerful to realize that no matter what we face, God will never fail us!
People will fail us. Employers will fail us. Loved ones will fail us. Sports teams will fail us (thank you, Dallas Cowboys)!
The great news is that the promise—I will never fail you or abandon you—is more about God than it is about us. It declares his faithfulness to his covenant or agreement.
God made a covenant with Abraham in the Bible. He made another, even more important covenant through Jesus and his death on the cross—an agreement promising that all who follow Jesus will be accepted by the Father and will live with God forever. He locked up the promise with the covenant.
The Bible says, “We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure” (Hebrews 6:19). The assurance, in the context of Hebrews, is that God will be faithful to us because he has bound himself to himself in an agreement.
The deal is that if you have entered by faith into this agreement with God through Christ, he is bound by his own character to be there for you. You and he have a covenant. He’s not going to back out of it. He has promised by his very nature to be with you all the time in the midst of your stuff.
So we need to apply this promise to our lives. That’s why in Hebrews this promise is mentioned and then followed by a response: “So we can say with confidence, ‘The Lord is my helper, so I will have no fear. What can mere people do to me?” (Hebrews 13:5-6)
You may be afraid today of really facing the truth about what’s going on in your life. Maybe it’s an addiction. The Lord is my helper, so I will have no fear.
Maybe you’re afraid today of the direction in which your marriage is headed. The Lord is my helper, so I will have no fear.
Maybe you’re single and time is running out and you’re afraid you will never be married. The Lord is my helper, so I will have no fear.
Maybe you and your spouse have tried again and again to start a family, but the pregnancy tests keep coming back negative and you’re afraid you’ll never have kids. The Lord is my helper, so I will have no fear.
Perhaps you are facing a job change that is terrifying to you. The Lord is my helper, so I will have no fear.
Perhaps you have a spouse or a child who serves in the armed forces, and you’re afraid he or she may never come home. The Lord is my helper, so I will have no fear.
Maybe you’re up against the question of having to take care of your parents each day—a potentially life-changing obligation—or putting them in a nursing home. The Lord is my helper, so I will have no fear.
Whatever you’re up against, remember God’s promise. He will never fail you and never abandon you. And take up the response. He is your helper, so have no fear.
