Thoughts: Hannah's Blog

“Never will I leave you,

Never will I forsake you.”

This is a famous, well known verse. The word for I will not forsake you in Tamil translation reads as “கைவிடமாட்டேன்” (Kai vida maaten: Kai = hand vida=leave maaten=I won’t) literal translation is “I won’t let go of your hand”

Picture this: Two people walking together, headed towards the same direction, walking hand in hand. One is you and the other is (whoever it could be: childhood friends, school friends, college friends, life partner, parents)

Different people journey with us during different phases of our lives. They all walk with us, may be hand in hand, for a while. At some point of time, either they let go or sometimes we do.

When they let go and we are not ready for it, it feels like abandonment. When their hand drops from ours, that’s when we feel forsaken and eventually forgotten. That emptiness in our hand, that missing warmth, makes us feel cold and all alone.

At times, due to our circumstances, we might feel even God has abandoned us, God is silent, that he has forgotten us or let go of our hands, but His word says:

Jerusalem says, “The Lord has deserted us;
    the Lord has forgotten us.”

“Never! Can a mother forget her nursing child?
    Can she feel no love for the child she has borne?
But even if that were possible,
    I would not forget you!
 See, I have written your name on the palms of my hands.
    Always in my mind is a picture of Jerusalem’s walls in ruins. – Isaiah 49: 14-16.

God promises that He will never forget us and will never let go of our hands. His promises are always true. Our feelings could lie, our situations might be unfavourable, and we might think we are all alone, but He hasn’t let go of you. He has not abandoned you. You are still safe in His arms. He has engraved your name in the palms of his hands.

I recently came across this wonderful quote by Charles H. Spurgeon:

When we cannot trace His hand, we must trust His heart.

Trust in His heart which is overflowing with love for you. Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding or on your feelings or on your circumstances. Lift your eyes and look to Him, the author and finisher of our faith.

I’d like to end with the chorus of a song called “Never” by Tasha Leyton which resonates with this post:

Never forgotten, never forsaken
Never abandoned, not for a second
I am safe in Your hands always and forever

You’re never not working, my heart is the proof
There’s not a broken, too broken for You
Will there ever come a day when You’re not holding me together?

You say never