Isaiah 41:10
Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.
JOHN FLAVEL (1630-1691): There is a sweet and sensible communion betwixt God and His people, in the contemplation of the Divine attributes, and the impressions God makes by them upon our souls, whilst we meditate on them. As for instance―sometimes there are special representations of the veracity and faithfulness of God made unto His people, begetting trust and holy confidence in their souls; and when they do so, then have men communion with God in His faithfulness…Thus, Hebrews 13:5 & 6: I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. There is a discovery of the faithfulness of God, and what follows upon this? See verse 6: So that we may boldly say, the Lord is our God; we will not fear what man can do unto us. Here is faithfulness in God, producing truth and confidence in the believer; this is that reciprocation, that sweet fellowship and communion betwixt God and a believer, with respect to His fidelity.
A. W. PINK (1886-1952): How many a Christian has derived comfort from “I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee!”
C. H. SPURGEON (1834-1892): I will tell you this morsel of my own faults: sometimes I have said, ‘I suffer so much. I am become so ill. I shall be so long away [that] the congregation will be greatly injured. Perhaps I shall never be able to preach again.’ I have struggled to this pulpit when I could scarcely stand, and when the service was over, and I have been weary, the wicked whisper has come, ‘Yes, I shall soon be useless. I shall have to keep to my bed, or be wheeled about in a chair, and be a burden instead of a help.’ This has seemed a dreadful prospect; but “I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee” has come in; and I have shaken off my fears and rejoiced in the Lord my God.
WILLIAM JAY (1769-1853): He does not cast away His people. He never leaves, nor forsakes them. This is their comfort, this is their hope, this is their security; the long-suffering of our God is salvation. “I the Lord change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed,” Malachi 3:6―and our God is the same, and has promised that He will never leave us nor forsake us.
MARY WINSLOW (1774-1854): Let thy believing prayer be, Cast me not off in the time of old age: forsake me not when my strength faileth, Psalm 71:9. And God’s faithful answer will be, Even to your old age I am He; and even to hoar hairs will I carry you, Isaiah 46:6.
WILLIAM JAY: Yes; He will be our guide, “even unto death,” Psalm 48:14; that is, till the journey is over, and all its cares cease. But is nothing more necessary? To death is much, but through death seems better. When we come to the entrance of the gloomy passage, it is pleasing to think that He is at the other side, and will receive us to Himself, that where He is there we may be also. Yet how am I to get through?―“My flesh and my heart faileth,” Psalm 73:26―and this case is provided for. All is insured. He will be with us through. “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil, for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me,” Psalm 23:4.
ALEXANDER CARSON (1776-1844): In the removal of the doubts of reason, let us gain confidence that the Lord will not forsake us in the time of our need.
R. C. CHAPMAN (1803-1902): Be content, for He hath said, “I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.” Let me lay up this promise in my heart, and I am a rich man. ‘How can I please God today? He will take care of tomorrow’ will be my settled, blessed mind.
LORD SHAFTESBURY (1801-1885): That text is a marvellous text, and has long been a banner to me in the house of my pilgrimage. Observe the frequent repetition of it. We read it first in Deuteronomy 31:6, just before Moses departed this life. Then it appears in Joshua 1:5, just as Joshua begins his independent career. David, dying (I Chronicles 28:20), passes it on to his son Solomon; and St. Paul winds it up, as a…possession for ever, to every generation of mankind. No text is so frequently repeated in Scripture; and it has, moreover, a singular significance. Moses, the type of our Lord, utters it as he quits this earth. Our Lord says, almost as He was ascending to Heaven, “Lo, I am with you alway—even to the end of the world.” The words are marvellously akin.
R. C. CHAPMAN: This promise was first given to Jacob―Genesis 28:15―now it is spoken to all God’s children.
C. H. SPURGEON: Several times in the Scriptures the Lord hath said this. He has often repeated it, to make our assurance doubly sure. Let us never harbour a doubt of it. In itself the promise [of Hebrews 13:5] is specially emphatic. In the Greek it has five negatives, each one definitely shutting out the possibility of the Lord’s ever leaving one of His people.
GEORGE MÜLLER (1805-1898): Oh, it is good to trust in the living God! for He hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.
