Remember and Turn Back

Jesus knows the condition of our heart. He knows where we are in our relationship with Him. Regardless of how you may be fooling yourself and/or others, Christ knows.

“⁴But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first.” – Revelation 2:4 (ESV)

Even as He does know the current condition of our heart, Jesus also knows where we were at one point and that we do have the capacity to get back there. It is however a conscious decision to turn back to Him and get right in our following of the LORD.

“²I know your works, your toil and your patient endurance, and how you cannot bear with those who are evil, but have tested those who call themselves apostles and are not, and found them to be false. ³I know you are enduring patiently and bearing up for my name’s sake, and you have not grown weary.” – Revelation 2:2-3 (ESV)

We know where we were. We know that we are sinners and were without salvation at one time. We accepted the gift of salvation that was give by Christ and progressed doing the work the LORD had for us. And then, as noted in verse four above, we see that we have fallen away from that work. We turned away from the LORD, maybe not consciously, but turned away none the less.

“⁵Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first.” – Revelation 2:5a (ESV)

This is where we are, we need to get back to our communion with the LORD. We need to re-engage with Him and find our way back to Him. We need to get back to where we were at first. Back to endurance, back to calling out evil, back to recognizing and calling our the false, and back to acting and doing the name of Jesus. We have turned away and abandoned the LORD, now is our time to turn back to Him and get back to work spreading His Word, the gospel, to all the world.

Where are you in your relationship with the LORD? Have you turned away and toward yourself? What if you remembered and turn back to Jesus and begin again doing the works you did when you first came to know Him?

Keep Waiting, You Have Not Been Abandoned

Patience my friend. It is not easy to wait. We are a restless people. Today especially, we live in a world of almost instant response, and things are only getting faster. With AI, we are able to accomplish things so much faster and this is diminishing the value of patience.

With our LORD, we must be patient. He works on His timeline and not ours. No amount of AI is going to get us to heaven any faster. Our deliverance will come when the LORD means for it and not a moment sooner or later. We may feel as though He is not listening or has left our presence, but He has not. The LORD has not abandoned us, no matter what we might be told.

“¹⁴For the Lord will not forsake his people;

he will not abandon his heritage;

¹⁵for justice will return to the righteous,

and all the upright in heart will follow it.”

— Psalm 94:14-15 (ESV)

Psalm 94 is titled in my ESV Bible, “The LORD will Not Forsake His People”, but nowhere in the chapter is it mentioned when. The psalmist just advises us to wait and that the LORD will deliver. This falls directly into what we know about the LORD and His timeline. We just don’t know. We are not in the loop as to when or how things will happen. We only trust that they will as we continue doing the work of the LORD.

I must admit that I am patient with some things and impatient with others. I have had to learn patience and trust that things will be done in the right time. I get frustrated when things do not go the way that I have planned them and then I remember that the LORD has a plan for all things and that plan has a timeline. I have to remember also to keep working for the LORD and know that I am to wait on Him and He will deliver me.

Verses 14 and 15 above are so right for you and me to study and remember. “The LORD will not forsake his people” and “justice will return to the righteous”. As for when, we do not know. We continue to wait, doing the work assigned, and know that we have not been abandoned or forsaken.

How patient are you? Are you constantly working to get things done in the now? What if you were to continue waiting on and working for the LORD, knowing that He has not abandoned you and that “justice will return” when the LORD decides?

God Does Leave Us to Destruction

I am in the midst of a study of the word “abandon/abandoned” and have found that God will not abandon us. Yes, He will allow us to be in distress and disaster will befall us, but He will not abandon us.

This morning I am continuing that study and have been brought to the Psalms, where David is declaring that God will not abandon him. He speaks of all the places where he will continue showing allegiance to God. Whether in God Himself, or the people of God, or His provision, or His counsel, David finds joy in the LORD.

David also recognizes that the LORD is a just God and will all distress and disaster to come upon him. He knows that it is up to him to follow the LORD and when not, the LORD will allow the path to become a bit more challenging. We choose that path thanks to the free will He has given to us, and God will allow us to explore that path. But, David also knows that the LORD will not be far away and will work to protect and guide him back.

“⁷I bless the Lord who gives me counsel;

in the night also my heart instructs me.

⁸I have set the Lord always before me;

because he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken.

⁹Therefore my heart is glad, and my whole being rejoices;

my flesh also dwells secure.”

— Psalm 16:7-9 (ESV)

Yes, there may be some thought to the idea that we can do whatever we want since we have the LORD as our savior. Where there is a deeper discussion there, I will not get into, David shows here that he knows that no matter how bad things get, he is secure in the love and care of the LORD. He know that God is always with him.

“¹⁰For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol,

or let your holy one see corruption.”

— Psalm 16:10 (ESV)

When things get bad, we can be secure in that God will not allow us to stay in that distress. He will not leave us to our destruction. God will provide the way for us to climb out of despair and into His arms of comfort and protection. He will send us help and as we are under His care, we will recognize that help at some point and find our way back. God will not leave us to our destruction, He will be with us as we experience what it is like to be away from Him.

How are you secure? Are you relying on yourself for security from destruction? What if you were to rely on the LORD, knowing that where you may be feeling the disaster in your life, He is with you and will not leave you to it as your security is in Him?

Others will See When We Turn Away from God

Disaster will come upon us when we turn away from God. He told us so in Judges as I wrote. But the LORD will not abandon us in that time. He will be with us waiting for our return. He will not make it easy. He may even allow us good things as He has given us free will to choose for ourselves. But He will be there with us waiting on our return to Him because He knows our heart.

It is not just God who will see that we have turned from Him. Others will see it as well. There will be noticed differences in our life and the world around us. In just a first pass, it may not be seen, but the continued separation from God will be noticed as disaster continue to strike day after day.

“⁸And this house will become a heap of ruins. Everyone passing by it will be astonished and will hiss, and they will say, ‘Why has the Lord done thus to this land and to this house?’” – 1 Kings 9:8 (ESV)

God gives us great things as He did with Solomon and the building of the temple. Those great things will continue to be there as we continue to be with the LORD and are following Him and His commandments in our lives. Yet, when we fall away from Him, those great things will begin to deteriorate. Those things will no longer be great as they were meant for the LORD and His people. As the people fall away the great things do the same.

“⁹Then they will say, ‘Because they abandoned the Lord their God who brought their fathers out of the land of Egypt and laid hold on other gods and worshiped them and served them. Therefore the Lord has brought all this disaster on them.’” – 1 Kings 9:9 (ESV)

And those passing by will know the reason for the disaster befalling us. Those around us know who we are. They know where we have been and where our allegiance is. They know that we follow the One True God and then will know when our following has waned. They will see our lack of dependence on the LORD. They will see how we have found another to worship. They will see that our allegiance has shifted. And they will see how it has impacted us. They will see the disaster in our lives. They will see that we are struggling. They will see that we are in need. And they will know where we should go to get back.

Remember that the LORD does not abandon us. Even as we have fallen away from Him and disaster has come upon us. He is steady waiting on us to turn back to Him. He has allowed disaster to befall us and yes, things have gotten pretty bad. Our lives may be in ruin, but remember that the LORD delivers His people. Remember the love He has for us. Remember that He gets the most from the least and know that He is just waiting to again get the most out us. Others know, we only need to look at ourselves to see where we are in relation to the LORD.

Where are you in relation to the LORD? Do you see the disaster in your life? What if you were to turn back to the LORD and allow Him to restore you?