This is part of my year-long series exploring human-centered alternatives to the spiritual promises in Oswald Chambers’ classic devotional My Utmost for His Highest. Today’s entry, “The Never-Failing God”, promises that God personally guarantees never to leave or forsake believers, providing constant divine presence and strength even in mundane circumstances, giving them “amazing strength” and the ability to “sing in the ordinary days.”
Here’s a different approach:
When Luis was diagnosed with early-onset dementia at 58, his wife Carmen felt abandoned by everything she’d believed about divine protection. The man who’d been her constant companion for thirty years was slowly disappearing, and no amount of prayer seemed to slow the progression.
Her pastor reminded her that God promised never to leave or forsake her. But Carmen found that promise increasingly hollow as she watched Luis struggle to remember their children’s names, then her name, then how to use a fork.
What sustained Carmen wasn’t divine presence but human presence. Her sister Maria moved in to help with daily care. Their neighbor Mrs. Rodriguez brought dinner twice a week. The adult day program gave Carmen respite while providing Luis with structured activities that kept him engaged.
The strength Carmen discovered wasn’t supernatural—it was practical. She learned to break tasks into smaller steps, to redirect Luis’s confusion rather than correct it, to find moments of connection in his remaining abilities. When he could no longer speak, they listened to music together. When he couldn’t remember her face, she focused on making him comfortable.
Carmen found meaning not in believing God was working through their suffering but in the tangible ways their community showed up. The dementia support group where other caregivers shared strategies and understanding. The home health aide who treated Luis with dignity even when he was agitated. Their daughter who video-called every evening from across the country.
As Luis’s condition worsened, Carmen didn’t sing because of divine strength. She hummed because music still reached him when words couldn’t. She found peace not in promises of never being forsaken but in the reliable presence of people who chose to stay, who showed love through practical action rather than spiritual platitudes.
When Luis died, Carmen’s grief was profound. But it wasn’t the abandonment by God that she’d feared—it was the natural sorrow of losing someone deeply loved, held and witnessed by a community that had never promised divine intervention but had consistently offered human care.
Reflection Question: When have you found strength through reliable human support rather than promises of divine presence?
This story is part of my upcoming book “The Undevoted: Daily Departures from Divine Dependence,” which offers 365 human-centered alternatives to the spiritual certainties in Chambers’ devotional. Each day explores how reason, community, and human resilience can address life’s challenges without requiring divine intervention.
God or Delusion? 