A Shelter for Me.
Psalm 61:3 (NLT) “for you are my safe refuge, a fortress where my enemies cannot reach me.”
It is a wonderful fact that if others forsake us, God never does. To each of His redeemed people He says, “I will never leave you nor forsake you” (Heb. 13:5). Often, people are false. They forsake friends when those friends fall into poverty. Oh the tragedies of some of these cruel forsakings! May you never know them. These so–called friends knew their friends when their clothing was new, but how sadly their eyesight fails as the clothing becomes tattered. They knew them extremely well when they sat at their table and shared their generous hospitality, but they do not know them now that they knock at their door for help in time of need.
Matters have changed and friends that once were cherished are now forgotten. In fact, the man almost pities himself to think that he is so unfortunate as to have a friend who has failed him. There is no pity because he is so occupied in pitying himself. In hundreds, thousands, and tens of thousands of cases, as soon as the gold has gone, the pretended love has gone. When the dwelling changes from the mansion to the cottage, the friendship that once promised to last forever suddenly disappears.
Believer, God will never leave us because of poverty, regardless of how low we are brought. There the promise always stands: “I will never leave you nor forsake you” (Heb. 13:5). Scant may be your food. You may have hard work to provide things honest in the sight of all. You may sometimes have to look and look again and wonder how you will be able to escape your present difficulty. When all your friends have turned their backs, when acquaintances have fallen from you like leaves in autumn, still He has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” Under His bounty, you will find “a shelter.” When these other hands are shut, His hands will still be outstretched in lovingkindness and tender mercy to help and deliver the soul of the needy.
— Charles Spurgeon
