Never will I leave you, never will I forsake you. Hebrews 13 five has anyone ever taken you snipe hunting? They take you out in the woods at night and leave you sitting there holding a burlap bag that these birds called snipes supposedly run into in the dark. It's an exciting experience, but as far as I know, no one has ever actually caught a snipe in this way. And though im not 100% sure about this, I think it is from this ritual of snipe hunting that we get the phrase left holding the bag. One of the primary features of snipe hunting is being left alone at night in the dark, unsure of what will happen. Abandoned all by yourself. Sometimes we feel that that is what God has done to us. He created us and dropped us here on earth, but then just kind of left us here to fend for ourselves holding the bag. Even though God has promised never to forsake us or leave us, the temptation to think otherwise pops up now and then. Usually when we're having a bad day or when things aren't going especially well at work or in the family, we know how unreliable and untrustworthy human beings can be. In fact, we know how unreliable and untrustworthy we can be. As a result, we might be tempted to think that God is the same. But God is not like us human beings. When he says that he will not leave us or forsake us, he means it. When he says that he has our back. He means it. When he says that we can count on him, he will come through. What we must remember, though, is that God operates on his own timetable, has his own agenda, and does things his own way. And as hard as it is for us to understand, his ways are always better than our ways. Never will I forsake you. Never will I leave you, God says. I'm not going anywhere, he says. And he asks us to trust that he is there, even when we don't always see him. I live in California's San Joaquin Valley. The Sierra mountain range is about 2 hours to the east. On almost any given day, I can see the peaks of the mountains off in the distance. There are days, however, when clouds block my view. But even when I can't see the mountains because of the clouds, I never doubt that they are there. I know that I just can't see them because the clouds are in the way. In the same way, we might not always be able to see the hand of God at work in our lives, but because the Bible tells us that God is always there. We know that we can trust him to have our backs, even when the clouds block our view. He is there and he is at work for our good and on our behalf, even when we can't see it.

This has been your thought for the day with Steve Burkham, pastor of Community Christian Church in Stockton, California. If you have questions or comments for Pastor Steve, please send them to dailythoughtspodcastmail.com. Have a great day and we hope you'll join us tomorrow as Pastor Steve opens God's word to bring us another thought for the day.