The One Who Will Never Forsake You

By F. D. Adkins

He stops in front of the entrance and takes a deep breath trying to settle the butterflies in his stomach. He has spent over an hour getting ready and another hour rehearsing his best lines. He cannot mess this up. She is the girl of his dreams.

The cool air of the air-conditioned restaurant gives him a chill as he swings open the door and steps inside. His eyes scan the dining room searching for his friends. They are supposed to request to be seated at one of her tables. When she comes to take their order, his friends are going to get a conversation started so he can ask her out. I am so lucky to have such great friends, he thinks to himself. I am too shy. I could never start talking to her by myself.

There…in the corner. He can see the tops of their heads sticking up over the back of the booth. The sight of his three best friends who care enough to spend their Friday night helping him increases his confidence with each step. He has sat in this restaurant a million times hoping to talk to her or at least wave, and after tonight she will actually know he exists. The thought pushes a smile across his whole face.

As he approaches the back of the booth, his friends are laughing.

“What is he thinking? She is way out of his league.”

“I know. It is going to be hilarious when she rejects him. Someone should record this.”

“Yeah. Watching this is going to be so worth giving up our Friday night.”

What? How could they? The blood drains from his face as he slowly backs away. When he knows they still have not seen him, he turns and makes a beeline for the door.

***

She steps from the back heading for the booth in the corner when she recognizes this handsome young man dashing for the exit. Hmmm. He usually sits at one of those small tables by the window. I wonder why he is leaving in such a hurry. Too bad he isn’t sticking around. He seems like a nice guy. She looks back toward the booth with the three boys howling and horseplaying. And nice guys are apparently hard to come by anymore.

***

As soon as he is through the doors, he takes off running for his car. With his heart pounding in his chest, he sits in the driver’s seat clenching his fists. The hurt, the anger, the loneliness…all swirl inside of him. The words, “What is he thinking? She is way out of his league,” repeat over and over and over in his mind. Suddenly, he only feels this gaping hole in his heart. 

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Have you ever been hurt by something a friend did or said? Have you ever been let down by a loved one? No one is perfect. If there were perfect people, Jesus would not have had to die. And because there are no perfect people, even those that we love and trust the most can let us down.

This week, I was looking up a verse and began reading Job 19 where Job details his suffering:

• “My kinsfolk have failed, and my familiar friends have forgotten me.” Job 19:14 KJV
• “They that dwell in mine house,… I am an alien in their sight.” Job 19:15 KJV
• “My breath is strange to my wife,…” Job 19:17 KJV
• “Yea, young children despised me…” Job 19:18 KJV
• “All my inward friends abhorred me: and they whom I loved are turned against me.” Job 19:19 KJV
• “My bone cleaveth to my skin and to my flesh, and I am escaped with the skin of my teeth.” Job 19:20 KJV

After reading these verses, I had this vivid image of a sickly, elderly, hopeless man tormented by his loss and abandoned by all those he loved and trusted. But then my eyes fell on verses 25 and 26.

• “For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth: And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God.” Job 19:25-26 KJV

Job is not hopeless. Job’s faith is stronger than ever because his focus is not on this world but on his eternal home. Job’s faith is not in people. Job’s faith is in God.

Yes, people may not say or act the way we want them to. People may not be there when we need them. And sometimes people may betray us or abandon us. BUT GOD “WILL NEVER LEAVE THEE, NOR FORSAKE THEE.” (Hebrews 13:5 KJV)