So,
when is the last time you praised the Lord for all those times you've been
delivered from danger and never even knew it! Why did the drunken driver miss
you? Why wasn’t your suicide attempt successful? Why didn’t depression have you
in a padded room, rocking and trying to remember your name? Why didn’t the
accident take your life? Why didn’t the loss of employment cause the loss of
your home? After such a painful broken trust, why were you allowed to love
again? Why did you get to carry a baby to full term after multiple
miscarriages? Why did you survive?
Paul
wrote about that level of security in our text of 2 Timothy 4:17-18. He said,
"But the Lord stood with me and gave me strength so that I might preach
the Good News in its entirety for all the Gentiles to hear. And He rescued me
from certain death. Yes; and the Lord will deliver me from every evil attack
and will bring me safely into His heavenly Kingdom. All glory to God forever
and ever! Amen." (NLT) Now there is a pretty powerful antidote to fear!
The Lord WILL rescue me and deliver me from every evil attack! In fact, not
even certain death can come for me before His timing for it! And even in the
face of timely death, I still have further security that “…the Lord will bring
me safely into His heavenly Kingdom…” Death can only come for me when God says
it’s invited. And even when it’s invited, it will only bring me to my Father’s
House in Heaven! That’s why you should look fear, and even fear of death, right
in the face and laugh. You are Always Protected By Your God!
Even
being protected by God, He has granted His children a good amount of solid
common sense! Paul often continued to preach
boldly, even when he knew there were forces who wanted to kill him in the city. But other times he left town
quickly or sneaked out of the city in a basket. When Nehemiah and his workers were threatened, he said, "We prayed to our God and we
posted a guard day and night"
(Nehemiah
4:9). Now, look! Our faith is not in
that guard but in
our God. But sometimes God chooses to protect us through practical steps that He asks us
to take. Therefore, yes you are safe and protected by God, and indeed He will
rescue and deliver us. However,
we were created with brains for a reason! Always walk by faith, but never walk
foolishly, and utilizing God’s wisdom is the best way to accomplish both
successfully!
Ultimately we're safe because our Almighty God is watching over us. As a
matter of fact, in just six verses in Psalm 121, it says "The Lord watches over you" five times! It concludes by saying, "The Lord will keep you from all
harm - He will watch over your life; the Lord will watch over your coming and
going both now and forevermore."
I often
watch the news and I’m blown away at times by the things that happened, that
just missed me by a moment! Such as, there was a 5 car pile-up (at an exit I
would have gotten off on); a train derailed (the same one I was mad at that I
missed). I'm indeed grateful for what God
has blessed in my life, but I'm also grateful for what He blocked from it as
well!
All I
can say is, “The Devil Thought He Had Us, But We Got Away!”
Blessings
J.P.
Olson
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