Isaiah 49:15, 16

"Can a woman forget her nursing child, and have no compassion on the son of her womb? Even these may forget, but I will not forget you. Behold, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands; your walls are continually before Me."

These verses are God's response to Israel's cry that He had forgotten her. In spite of the myriad of promises He had made to the contrary, and proved by countless acts of might and provision (such as all that was involved in the Exodus), Israel would still insist He had forgotten her, that she was no longer "the apple of His eye." Amazing. Or is it...?

Have we not been promised, "I will never desert you, nor will I ever forsake you," (Hebrews 13:5)? Did our Lord not promise "I am with you always, even to the end of the age," (Matthew 28:20)?

Yet, how often we, too, yield to feelings of abandonment, listening to the lie of the enemy of our soul as he whispers that we've been left adrift to fend for ourselves in this maze of decisions called life. The cry can rise up in our spirit, like Israel's, "He has forgotten."

"Father, You never give a promise for nothing, and Your promised presence is such a needed one, especially in the night times when loneliness and fear intensify. Forgive for times we interpret your silence as indifference. Rather let us see such times as faith-stretching. Grant grace to faith You in Your unseen Presence, and love You for it. Use Your precious and magnificent promises to increase our anticipation for the time when we'll see You face to face, in all Your glory. Be pleased to fill the waiting with Yourself!
In the Name of Your Son, the Lord Jesus, I pray,
Amen."