This song "Never Will I Leave You" was originally written in 1999 for a good friend who was going through a difficult time. A few weeks ago we were recording it as a family in the living room. The children were holding our new kitten Theophilos and I asked them to put him outside in order to avoid being distracted. A few minutes later we were surprised to see him reappear in the living room. We were somewhat perplexed but simply put him back out again so that we could resume recording. It wasn’t long before he reappeared a second time in the middle of our recording session which of course was extremely distracting. I think I was the last one to realize what everyone was looking at and by that time we were all holding back laughter and couldn’t continue recording. Therefore we gave it up and just had a cheerful chuckle. The mystery was also solved and remedied at this point.
Earlier in the day Todd had done some work on the tub in the master bathroom in order to fix a leak in the faucet. To do this he had to access under the tub which meant removing a board attached to the wall next to the tub giving access to the crawl space under the house. Theophilos obviously had discovered this secret passage and was happy to make use of it. Todd tossed him outside one last time and put the board back in place which finally solved the problem. The recording however had to wait until the following evening, so much for avoiding distraction.
I thought it was meaningful that this little incident happened while recording “Never Will I Leave You”. It seemed to me that God wanted to give us a picture of just how much He wants to be with us and that it is never His choice to cause any distance between us. Rather we are the ones that often try to toss Him out and board up our hearts to deny Him access. The problem is never with Him. If we lack a sense of intimacy with God, it is due to our choices, not His.
(Note: The photo is of our two cats Triphena (Pheeny), the darker one and Theophilus (Philo), the lighter one.)
Never Will I Leave You
He did not promise that you would not be lonely
But that you would not be alone
He did not promise that your heart wouldn’t be broken
But that He’d make your heart His home
He did not promise that your life would be easy
But that He would make you strong
He did not promise you a road without potholes
But He promised to go along
For He said, “Never will I leave you. Never will I forsake you.”
“I will be with you always.”
“So do not fear, for I am with you;
Do not be dismayed.”
He did not promise you fame and fortune
But He promised to provide
He did not promise you an earthly mansion
But that in Him you would abide
He did not promise you a life of perfection
But He promised you His righteousness
He did not promise you your dreams on a platter
But He promised you that which is best
For He said, “Never will I leave you, never will I forsake you.”
“No good thing will I withhold.”
“I will surely help you and I will give you strength.”
“My child, I will uphold.”
He did not promise that the world would applaud you
But you’d be the apple of His eye
He did not promise that you would not know sorrow
But that He would hear your cry
He did not promise that there would not be arrows
But that He would be your shield
He did not promise you a war without wounded
But He’d be your victory in the battlefield
For He said, “Never will I leave you. Never will I forsake you.”
“I will be your victory.”
“For my strength is made perfect in your weakness.”
“My grace is sufficient for thee.”
Copyright 1999 Holy Spirit (via Paula Thorson)