Never And Always

As we conclude this energetic, revitalizing and reassuring time of trail walking, which the Holy Spirit has led us on, we cannot but rejoice in Him, if indeed faith has been replaced in its rightful place and fears and doubts have been dethroned.

May I remind you that faith does not work as we would like it to work, most visible at all times. There are times, when you do not see evidence of the Word working in your life, but that does not mean that it is not there. How often have you come out of a situation, or a period of abject worry, distress and depression, thinking that God has not been hearing you and answering you, only to confess, with deep repentance, that God has been there all the time working, but you were not seeing? How many times have you testified, after the fact, that God was there working on your behalf?

Having travelled these trail walks of NEVER, your faith - weak or strong, little or much, tottering or firm – must be exercised. How often have you taken medication for pain, for example, because it has been recommended and prescribed by your physician? How often has he or she told you that when you take it, you may have to wait a little while, before you see the results of that drug? Clearly note that you are not waiting for the drug to work, for it begins to work the moment it gets into your stomach. No! You are waiting to see what it has done and is doing to you. Faith is often like that. You may not see the results you are looking for straight off the bat, in these trail walks, but the results will be seen in some unexpected ways, perhaps, for the Spirit of our Lord is working in you.

Fully assured of His faithfulness, we keep following as we sit for a moment to receive again all that we have just walked. We are looking with one eye on all the NEVER promises which have been written in our hearts, etched on our minds, and lit up throughout each soul.

I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty. John 6: 35.

But blessed is the one who trusts in the LORD, whose confidence is in him. They will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit. Jeremiah 17: 7 – 8.

Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life. John 4: 13 – 14.

Never again will all life be destroyed by the waters of a flood; never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth. Genesis 9: 11b.

Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life. Genesis 9: 14 – 15.

Holy Spirit, Comforter and Guide, in whatsoever state we are, please guard our minds and our hearts even now. We thank You that You are our Loving God. Amen!

The Title of this meditation says, Never and Always.

Do you realize that even though the word, always, is present whenever the word, never is spoken, it is most inaudible? Have you also observed that when the word never is written, the word, always, remains most invisible? Yet, I tell you, never and always are bedfellows, which do not and cannot exist without the other. Exactly! There can be no, never without, always

Accepting this understanding and believing its truth, our trail joyfully takes us to Exodus 19: 9. The LORD said to Moses, I am going to come to you in a dense cloud, so that the people will hear me speaking with you and will always put their trust in you. Then Moses told the LORD what the people had said.

Our trail is not taking us through the events of what is happening, interesting though they be. No! We are being led through this one word, always, which God speaks to His servant, Moses. God’s people, will always put their trust in you, is what God has said, meaning that they will, never, not put their trust in Moses. How can that be? How can a perfect-speaking, perfect-knowing, perfect-understanding, perfect-thinking and perfect-calling God, make such a bold statement about unfaithful, ungrateful and unstable human beings? God can make the statement about the always response of the children before Him, because of what God will do.

It is the stimulus that brings the response. God will stimulate His people, as it were, towards Moses, no other person in the camp, because God wishes it to be so. God is not just going to come to His servant Moses, that’s common and every day. No! He is going to come to Moses in visible form, so that all the people will see Him, and He will speak to Moses in audible voice, so that all the people will hear Him speaking with Moses. It is this undeniable stimulus from God that will bring about the compelling response in God’s people. They will always put their trust in Moses, as God’s sent leader.