Friday, May 12, 2017
O Lord, I have come to you for protection; don’t let me be
disgraced. Save me, for you do what is
right. Turn your ear to listen to me; rescue
me quickly. Be my rock of protection, a
fortress where I will be safe. You are
my rock and my fortress. For the honor
of your name, lead me out of this danger.
Pull me from the trap my enemies set for me, for I find protection in
you alone. I entrust my spirit into your
hand.
My future is
in your hands. Rescue me from those who
hunt me down relentlessly. Let your
favor shine on your servant. In your
unfailing love, rescue me. Rescue
me, Lord, for you are a faithful God.
Psalm 31:1-5, 15-16(NLT)
Life can be
something of a minefield, and anyone who has lived more than 30 seconds on
planet earth understands that. The
Scriptures, both Old and New Testaments, are full of examples of the ambush
traps laid for the unsuspecting:
·
Cain
killed his brother Abel after luring him into the fields.
·
King
Saul chased young David into hiding in caves, running for his life.
·
Joseph,
the son of Jacob’s old age had brothers who were so jealous they threw him into
a pit and then sold him into slavery.
·
The
Hebrew children of Israel were slaughtered by Herod’s maniacal paranoia when he
suspected a king had been born among the Jews who would take his throne. Herod was right about the birth of a King,
but it wasn’t Herod’s throne Jesus would claim; that was way too small a crown.
In the
struggle between good and evil which has been ongoing since the Garden of Eden,
human beings have always found themselves with toils and snares on every side
just waiting to pull the ambush trigger!
You’ve had
days where it seems like the deck was stacked against you, or like dominoes
falling, the bad news kept getting worse.
Amos delivered a sermon about such times:
In that day
you will be like a man who runs from a lion— only to
meet a bear. Escaping from the bear, he leans his
hand against a wall in his house— and he’s bitten by a
snake. Amos 5:19(NLT)
The apostle
Paul was taken prisoner because of his faith, shipwrecked, beaten, stoned, and
left for dead. Still, he faced life’s
difficulties with faith in God:
We are
pressed on every side by troubles, but we are not crushed. We are perplexed,
but not driven to despair. 2 Corinthians
4:8(NLT)
Another man
bequeathed to the world an indelible sense of hope in Christ through a song he
wrote. John Newton was an 18th
century slave ship captain. He became
convinced of the sinfulness of what he was doing and stepped out of that evil
to serve Christ. It was not easy, but as
the words of his song proclaim, grace became the release for every trap the
enemy set in his way:
Through many dangers, toils, and snares I have
already come
'Tis grace that brought me safe thus far and grace will lead me home
'Tis grace that brought me safe thus far and grace will lead me home
For You Today
So…been
beaten for your faith? Chased by a
lion? Come face to face with a
bear? Bitten by a snake? Shipwrecked?
Under a death sentence? Thrown
into a pit? Sold by your family into
slavery?
Not
today? You’re ahead of the game. Give thanks and keep trusting in His grace!
NOTES
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