Does God leave?
January 22, 2026 | 11:54 pm
One of the greatest assurance for us is the fact that God will never leave us. He says, “I will never leave you nor forsake you” (Joshua 1:5).
Scripture repeats this assurance in many forms: For I am the Lord, I do not change (Malachi 3:6). God is not a man, that He should lie, nor a son of man, that he should repent (Numbers 23:19). I will be with you always even to the end of the age ( Matthew 28:20). These promises present God as steadfast, faithful, and constant. One not to leave.
Moses understood that God’s manifest presence distinguishes His people from the all other people on earth (Exodus 33:16). He valued His presence. Yet the Bible also records troubling moments that seem to contradict this truth. Instances when God seems absent. When God withdraws. When God ‘leaves’. When all that is left are remnants and particles of His presence -just the footprints of where He used to be.
Samson, for example, continues in strength, unaware that “the LORD had left him” (Judges 16:20). In his case, God did not suddenly abandon him; Samson gradually abandoned God. His strength was not merely physical—it was relational. When the relationship was violated, the empowerment ceased. He slowly faded into a place of no longer being sensitive to the presence of God based on His relationship.
Eli can recognize God’s voice speaking to Samuel, yet no longer hears it himself (1 Samuel 3:8-9). His spiritual hearing had grown dull over years of compromise. Overtime he lost the awe and honor of God. This is climaxed by the birth of his grandson Ichabod, which means, ‘The glory of God has departed,’ upon hearing about the death of Eli and his two sons (1 Samuel 4).
1 Samuel 16, speaks of the spirit of God leaving King Saul and a tormenting spirit being released upon him. This was after disobeying the Lord and failing to see his wrong in not destroying the Amalekites as directed by the Lord.King Saul spent the rest of his reign wandering whether he was doing the right or not.
In 2 Chronicles 18:23, Zedekiah, a prophet, wonders when the spirit of the Lord left him to make way for a “lying spirit” to derail King Ahab to his death. This is often God giving people over to the consequences of what they have already chosen (Romans 1). The lying spirit was released upon the prophets because it was the Lord’s will to destroy King Ahab who had led Israel away from the Lord.
These stories raise an honest question: Does God leave? Does He abandon? One thing that’s clear is that God does not 
leave in faithfulness—but He may withdraw in fellowship. He remains present, but not always perceptible. He remains faithful, but not always permissive.
The early church continued steadfastly in the apostles’ teaching, in fellowship, in the breaking of bread and prayer and they grew daily spiritually and numerically ( Acts 2:42-47). The church stayed with the Lord and the Lord stayed with them. God will never leave us nor forsake us but we must also not fade away from Him.
The tension is resolved when we distinguish between God’s covenantal faithfulness and His manifest presence or empowerment. God does not abandon His people in the sense of breaking covenant or withdrawing His ultimate faithfulness. However, Scripture shows that God can withdraw His active presence, guidance, or power when people persist in disobedience, pride, or spiritual dullness.
The question, then, is not “Does God leave?” But rather, “Are we still walking closely enough to recognize when He is near?” Are we still hearing his voice in the reading of the word? Are we sensing his power and presence as we pray? Are we gathering in fellowship with other believers to experience God’s presence among the ‘two or more’? Are we partaking of the Lord’s table to remember His death and resurrection power? These tenets sustain us and enable us to grow closer to Him and align to His divine will and plan.
This truth calls us not to fear abandonment, but to pursue attentiveness, humility, and obedience. The promise still stands: God does not forsake His own. Yet we cannot presume upon His presence while neglecting the relationship that sustains it!
May we not look with longing at the ‘good old days’ when God walked with us. Let us walk with the Lord now. Let the presence of the Lord be made manifest in us.
In this year of Divine Alignment, Prophetic Elevation and Covenant Establishment, may we align with the Lord, so we can partake of His elevation and establishment. Like Moses we must cry, “If your presence does not go with us, we do not want to leave this place!”
Come Lord Jesus, Come!
Blessed 2026!
Shalom!
Rev Anne