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For the Lord will not cast off for ever: but though he cause grief, yet will he have compassion according to the multitude of his mercies (Lamentations 3:31, 32).

Kagawa of Japan, once threatened with blindness, lay for months in the dark with scorching pain in his eyes. He wrote: "Health is gone. Sight is gone. But as I lie forsaken in this dark room, God still gives light. At the center of things there is a heart.”

Do you think the Lord has cast you off, that He has actually forgotten you? If so, read this promise again, "The Lord will not cast off for ever.” He may cast away for a time, when He sees reason for it, but not forever. When it seems that your prayers are not answered, do not despair or cease to pray or to have faith in God. Job went through such an experience. His battle with Satan was more desperate than most of us ever wage, yet he was in God’s keeping all the time. In his darkest hour of loss and grief he said of God, "Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him” (Job 13:15).

In the Scripture, God is sometimes said to cause what He permits. "Though he cause grief,” we read, "yet will he have compassion according to the multitude of his mercies.” Sometimes God causes grief because He has compassion. Some lessons can be learned only in the school of tears. Then we turn to God in earnest. His Word becomes real to us, and its promises most precious. Then we see God’s sunshine through the rain. Even of Christ in His humanity it is written, "Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered” (Hebrews 5:8).

Do you think you are cut off? No, never! "God hath not cast away his people which he foreknew” (Romans 11:2). He loves you. Of Jesus and His disciples it is written, "Having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end” (John 13:1). He still loves you, so be of good cheer!

MEDITATION PRAYER: "Keep me as the apple of the eye, hide me under the shadow of thy wings” (Psalms 17:8).