God's Protection

Isaiah 43:2
When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they will not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be scorched, nor will the flame burn you.

God is always with us, no matter what the circumstances. He is our protector, our sure defense.
No matter what danger or violence we face in life, He promises His presence and protection. Even when we feel the enemy’s flood is about to engulf us, with Jesus at our side, we will not be swept away.

When God pours out His anger upon the earth, those who are His will not be burned. God’s wrath will not consume us—even if that flame is the tip of a weapon or the head of a spear.

We are His and He and His promises are ours. Stand on what He says, even if the enemy shouts otherwise.

Lord Jesus, when my eyes see the enemy’s flood
and I smell burning flames set out to destroy me,
when I see the flash of weapons aimed at me,
may my eyes turn steadily You
as we walk through the danger together.
Thank You for Your constant care
and precious promises.

Ungratefulness

We are in the season of Thanksgiving—we are reminded to be grateful for the good and the bad. Sometimes it’s hard for us to see God’s good in a situation but that’s because we’re in the midst of it. We can’t see the situation from His perspective. We don’t know the good He is working out through these situations.

It’s times like these that people think God has abandoned us, that He doesn’t care, that He’s forgotten our name. Nothing could be farther from the truth.

We need to remember the times we are in. 2 Timothy 3 tells us, “But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God; holding a form of godliness, although they have denied its power; and avoid such men as these.”

In these treacherous days we need to hold fast to the truth of the Word of God. To “continue in the things you have learned and become convinced of” according to 2 Timothy 3:15, because “All scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness,” according to 2 Timothy 3:16.

Let us take this moment to stop and be grateful to God for His gifts to us. All of them.

Your Purpose

This past weekend I attended the Heart of America Christian Writers Network Conference here in Kansas City. One of the activities we enjoyed was a drama by Karen Morerod. She portrayed Queen Esther from the Bible from the book of the same name.

Queen Esther saved her Jewish people from annihilation. Her uncle told her God placed her in the palace “for such a time as this.”

I wonder if each of us are aware we too, are placed by God where we are in this time and place in history for such a time as this. Each of us has a part to play, every day, in His grand plan.

How has He made you aware of your role?

God's Deliverance

Our God is a just God. He hears the cries of the afflicted and delivers those who cry out to Him. Psalm 46:1 says “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.”

After the Israelites left Egypt after 400 years of captivity, they found they had the Red Sea before them and Pharaoh’s army in chariots behind them. They were trapped. There was nowhere to go. They couldn’t outrun the army, even if there was someplace to run.

The people cried out to Moses in fear. Moses said, “Do not fear! Stand by and see the salvation of the Lord which He will accomplish for you today; for the Egyptians whom you have seen today, you will never see them again forever. The Lord will fight for you while you keep silent.”

The Lord told the people to go forward into the Red Sea. Moses lifted up his staff. The sea parted. The Israelites crossed over. Pharaoh’s army went in after them.

The account in Exodus 14:24, 25 says the Lord brought the army of the Egyptians into confusion and He caused their chariot wheels to swerve.

That word swerve in the original Hebrew is cuwr. It means “to depart; to be removed.” In other words, God made the chariot wheels to fall off!

Today we are faced with an unjust law imposed on us that would cause a person who has no health insurance to pay $400 a month for the cheapest plan that carries a $5,000 deductable if they needed to visit an emergency room. If a person making minimum wage can’t come up with $400 a month, how are they going to be able to pay the $5,000 due?

It’s an unjust law. At this point, the sign-up website isn’t functioning and people who don’t sign up will be fined.

Perhaps God has heard the cries that call to Him about the slavery of being forced to do something that puts us in bondage to an unjust government. Maybe the failed website is God’s hand saying, “Your wheels are falling off. Enough already!”