Day 6: God Has Not Cast You Away!

Today, on Day 6 of our New Season Fast, the Lord wants you to know this: God has not cast you away.

I know a lot of people have been feeling lately like God has abandoned them, or that He is done with them, because they aren’t yet seeing the results in life that they desire to see. But, the truth is that God has not abandoned you. He has not cast you away.

Look at what He wrote in Isaiah 41:8-10:

“But you, Israel, are My servant, Jacob whom I have chosen, the descendants of Abraham My friend. You whom I have taken from the ends of the earth, and called from its farthest regions, and said to you, ‘You are My servant, I have chosen you and have not cast you away:

Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand'” (Isaiah 41:8-10 NKJV).

I’ve been asking God the same questions as you because of the difficulties I am experiencing.

None of us like tests and trials; it goes against human nature to do so. And when bad things happen, or when the good things we desire haven’t happened yet, it’s common for us to wonder if we did something wrong. And as Christians, it’s common for us to wonder if we did something to offend God, or if He is done with us.

Notice that I said “It’s common,” however; I did not say “It’s normal.”

This is an important distinction, because “normal” here means “the standard of Christian faith the way the Bible teaches it.”

And what the Bible teaches us is that we have to embrace the truth of God’s Word as it is written, and as applying to us directly, because:

“All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:16-17 NKJV).

And therefore, when we read in Isaiah 41 that God has not cast you away, and we know that this message is for Israel, and that you are spiritual Israel, being grafted in through Christ …

… and that, YES, you ARE the righteousness of God in Christ according to 2 Corinthians 5:21:

“For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Corinthians 5:21 NKJV).

… then that means Isaiah 41 applies to you, and that God has NOT cast you away.

Beloved, I know that times are difficult. But, God loves you and has not cast you away.

If you seek God and you’ve done something wrong, He will show you … but even if He needs to correct you about something, He still has not cast you away. He loves those whom He chastens, and He chastens those whom He loves:

And if God isn’t correcting you about anything, that means you didn’t do anything wrong.

He is good enough and strong enough to let you know it if you need to change something about your outward behavior. And if He is not showing you what you need to change, yet your breakthrough hasn’t happened yet, then you can rightly assume that He is working on your inner heart, not on your outward behavior.

This doesn’t mean He’s mad at you, but rather that He is healing you, helping you, changing you on the inside, and conforming you to His image.

Therefore, beloved, the thing to do is not to run into self-pity, going down the path of saying:

• That God is mad at you;
• That you must have done something wrong in order to be in this place;
• That you are mad at God;
• That you aren’t going to seek God anymore or be faithful in your service and obedience to Him, et cetera …

… But rather, remember Job, who lost nearly everything except his less-than-encouraging wife, and yet the Bible says:

“In all this Job did not sin nor charge God with wrong” (Job 1:22 NKJV).

Friend, I don’t know why you’re suffering.

If I could fix it for you, I would. No matter what you’re going through, my heart goes out to you. But I do know this:

God has not cast you away, and the only way to get past this season of suffering is to believe that.

God is still with you. He has not cast you away. The period of suffering you are experiencing right now is not “because God is done with you.” He is NOT done with you; He will never leave you nor forsake you:

“And the Lord, He is the One who goes before you. He will be with you, He will not leave you nor forsake you; do not fear nor be dismayed” (Deuteronomy 31:8 NKJV).

So it’s time to stop being dismayed (and “dismayed” means cowering or trembling in front of the size and scope of a problem) and decide to believe:

• that God is still good (which is the truth);
• that He will work this out for your good, even when you don’t see how (but He sees the end from the beginning, and He does see how); and
• that God is still with you (which is the truth);
• and that God would not let you suffer needlessly.

But friend, just like the Israelites wandering in the desert …

… You can go around and around the very same mountain if you do not get on board with the plans of God for your journey.

And if you’ve been suffering with a bad attitude, allowing doubt and unbelief to creep in, God can’t do a lot with that until you decide to start believing Him again.

Faith is a choice, not a feeling.

And you have to believe and know that God has not cast you away. Even if you don’t feel like it, you have to believe AND ACCEPT that God has not cast you away. And you have to accept the truth, confess the truth, and rest in the truth:

• That God loves you;
• That He would not be allowing this unless He were going to work it out for your good; and
• That your attitude during the storm makes a difference about how long you will be in the storm.

These are hard truths, but they are true nonetheless.

Beloved, God has not cast you away.

I’m sorry you are suffering, and I’m sorry I’m suffering too. I don’t like these hard times any more than you do. But, in and through it all, God is still good. He is only allowing this because He’s going to work it out for your good. He only sends you out to battle when He has a giant for you to kill and a promotion for you to earn.

And the sword of the Lord will still work on your behalf, slaying all those giants for you, if you will just abide in Him and trust in Him, believe His Word, and rest in His presence, His love, and His goodness and faithfulness to you.

God has not cast you away. Believe this today, for it is the truth–and it is the on-time, right now word of God to you!

Will you choose to believe the Word of God today, that God has not cast you away? Will you rest in Him and seek His face, despite the difficult things that are happening all around you? Leave a comment below if you will!