“Always”, and “Never” are, what i call, ultimate words. There are very few things in this life we live which are “always”, and “never”, but yet in the Bible there are ultimate words used, and i believe the Lord wants us to be involved with His ultimate intent and purpose, thus He uses ultimate words for us to ultimately trust Him and ultimately believe Him. Ultimate – to the utter most.
“Always” – at all times; “Never” – at no time. Another ultimate word is “Every”, meaning all individuals and parts without exception. Do we take these words seriously? We say we do, and we read the scripture and agree enthusiastically, but often we live it out differently. i question myself over how often i say God always has my back, but when things get tough, how often to i flip over backwards wondering where the Lord is in my life? When i use the words “always”, “every” and “never” i may not really mean them to their fullest, But, when God uses those words, He means what He says and He means not just to the edge of the universe, He means beyond the vanishing point, past when time stops, past the edges of understanding, with not even a thin shadow of a chance He will do anything other than what He has promised.
In Matt 28:20 Jesus said, “I am with you always,”, meaning, for believers, He is always with us and there is never a time He is not. In 2Cor2:14, Paul says God always leads us in triumph in Christ. Always. At all times, and there is not a time in Christ, which God does not lead us in triumph. 1Cor13:8, “Love never fails”, at no time does Love ever fail. Ever. Heb13:5, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” Hmmm…. “I will Never leave you,” and “I will always be with you.” Always and Never. Ultimate words. Should we take God seriously? Of course, but do we?
i believe many of us have a Perception of Disconnection. Here of late i have been asking God that i would somehow spend more time with Him, and that i want to talk to Him more often than i do because i’ve realized i don’t talk to Him as often as i think i do. i have a vision of a long, straight line and on it are blips of how often i speak to the Lord. To my disappointment, there are long sections of flat line. So i’ve become acutely aware of how much i talk to God and, in the summary of things, i am pretty dissatisfied with how little i actually do. Additionally, while becoming aware of how little i talk to the Lord, i’ve also become decidedly aware of how thankful i am that Jesus incessantly intercedes for us, Rom8:34. He is always communicating with me even when i don’t consciously communicate with Him.
We so often have opportunity to interact with God, but yet many times we tend to sit and stare. Why? Why do we so often sit and stare, not talking, not thinking… just staring instead of speaking to the Lord, or worshiping? And in those moments, many of us, more often than not, perceive a disconnection from God when it seems nothing is going on … no events, no conversations, no emails. When we are aware nothing is happening in our head or heart, we have a perception of disconnection and it is not true. Suddenly, we decide God must not be there.
We are not disconnected. According to the finished work of the cross, for those who believe on Christ, we are always connected, never disconnected. Jesus said so with His ultimate words of “always with you”, and “never forsake you”.
How is it God uses ultimate words like “always” and “never” in reference to His relationship with us, but we selectively hear Him? We read the scriptures, give a big amen, but then we want to get selective about how much is “every thought” which should be taken captive, and how often is “always”, or how seldom is “never”. Measuring, like how wrong is too wrong, and how right is right enough. When the Lord said take “every thought captive”, He meant not just the bad ones, but the good ones too, but we decide to be selective and re-decide the word of the Lord from “every thought” to be “pretty much select thoughts”. God said “I am with you always”, but yet we perceive a disconnection, re-deciding how often is “always”. The Lord said, “I will never leave you”, but yet we re-decide His words, measuring how seldom is never, as if one time out of 1000 is close enough to call it never. i think God meant exactly what He said when He uses the words, “Always”, “Never” and “Every”.
He said those ultimate words because He meant them. He did not approximate, He did not say “for the most part”, or “pretty much rarely”. He did not say “take most thoughts captive” … that’s not what God said. Again, He meant what He said.
We are connected to God through the blood of the Son, whether we perceive it, feel it or not. By faith, my connection with God is as consistent as the Son, and Jesus never fails. Ever. Jesus is with us and will never leave us or forsake us to the ends of the earth, and we can bank on that with our lives. God expects us to believe Him, always.