II Chronicles 15:2 “And he went out to meet Asa, and said unto him, Hear ye me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin; The LORD is with you, while ye be with him; and if ye seek him, he will be found of you; but if ye forsake him, he will forsake you.”
In our day, we “forsake” “The LORD” when we fail to “worship the Father in spirit and in truth” (John 4:23). When we fail to “worship the Father in spirit and in truth” as He Has Commanded in His Holy Word, our actions declare that we are wiser than God, stronger than God, and that our will takes precedence over the Will and Commandments of God. “The LORD” will not eternally forsake His “Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ” (I Peter 1:2); but if we persist in disobedience, “The LORD” will certainly deliver “us into the hands of” our enemies (Judges 6:13) to chasten us. It is a very sad thing when “The LORD” forsakes His Children for a season; for when He does, they eventually find themselves in misery and pain and trouble from which they simply cannot recover themselves. “The LORD” tells us that while He is chastening us, “when ye spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you: yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear” (Isaiah 1:15). Just before Israel lost their Country and was taken into captivity, they received this exhortation: “If thou wilt return, O Israel, saith the LORD, return unto me: and if thou wilt put away thine abominations out of my sight, then shalt thou not remove.” (Jeremiah 4:1)! They refused to “return”, so their enemy “carried away all Jerusalem, and all the princes, and all the mighty men of valour, even ten thousand captives, and all the craftsmen and smiths: none remained, save the poorest sort of the people of the land” (II Kings 24:14)! “The LORD” declared, “And I will for this afflict the seed of David, but not for ever.” (I Kings 11:39); that is, while His chastening is often quite severe, it is “not for ever”; for, He explained, “Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love” (Jeremiah 31:3). In times of such chastening, the Children of God can be heard crying, “Is his mercy clean gone for ever? doth his promise fail for evermore? 9 Hath God forgotten to be gracious? hath he in anger shut up his tender mercies?” (Psalms 77:8-9) and “Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit.” (Psalms 51:12)! However, “The LORD” graciously and mercifully tells us that, at a time pleasing to Him, He “will restore health unto thee, and I will heal thee of thy wounds” (Jeremiah 30:17)!