Achan sinned. He took some silver and gold and hid it in his tent. Because of his sin, Israel could no longer stand before their enemies. God says He will no longer be with them, not unless they obey the original command.

This is where we need to read the Old Testament in light of the New. In the Old Testament, God’s favor comes and goes. He’s with them; He’s not. One of millions sinned, and they are all defeated by their enemies. God is holy. He can’t be with sin. He has to reject it to remain who He is.

Jesus told His disciples that He will never leave nor forsake them. How is that possible?

God was never going to be able to be with the children He loved. They kept abandoning Him. They kept walking away. He made a way for them to come running, to be near through the perfect blood sacrifice of Jesus.

In Him we are made righteous. When you are in Christ, you are the righteousness of God. You are perfect and blameless before God because of the cleansing blood of Jesus and His Spirit life in you. In Christ, we are part of the one body of Christ. God the Father will never forsake His Son.

By faith, we abide in Him. By faith, we are in Christ. By faith, we receive what God chose for us, to be His children, to be called by His name.  He chose us before the foundation of the world by the good pleasure of His will to be before Him in love. His will cannot be thwarted. We will belong to Him always. We will remain in Christ.

We just choose to believe. We just have to receive it by faith. We will never be good. Only God is good. In the flesh, no matter how disciplined and diligent and earnest we are, we could never be good enough to maintain that abiding. It’s only in Christ that it is true and will always be true, that glorious truth of God with us, dwelling in us and us in Him.

By faith we receive the gift of grace to work out our salvation and to walk in His will. It’s all a gift. It’s all by His grace. The grace to receive is a gift from Him. The faith to receive the grace is a gift from Him. It’s all Him.

He is faithful. He is unchanging. He will be faithful to us to the end.