Father, I pray for Your peace today. There is so much uncertainty with going back to school 5 days a week and with two family friends fighting for their lives against the unrelenting onslaught of cancer. I’m grateful for Your offer of peace, which exceeds anything we can understand… (Philippians 4:7a) Amen.
Luke 16:16-18 (<<click here to read the passage)
I’ve never experienced an earthquake. According to Wikipedia, Ohio has recorded at least 200 earthquakes since 1776. Most have been small but the largest one in the state occurred on March 9, 1937, and is estimated to have had a magnitude of 5.4 on the Richter scale. It caused enough damage to the local school in Anna, Ohio that it had to be torn down. But that’s nothing compared to the largest one recorded in the world – a 9.5 magnitude quake that struck near Valdivia, Chile on May 22, 1960. This one was so bad it created a tsunami that killed people across the Pacific Ocean in Hawaii, Japan, and the Philippines!
I know that there are buildings constructed to withstand earthquakes but where would a Joe Schmoe like me go? I’d just pray to live through it!
There is one place we can go where nothing can shake us up and that is God! And it needs to be stressed that everything that comes from God falls into the same category…His word included.
I realize that some do not believe that God’s word is infallible…but I do. I have struggled recently with one of my sources for sermon material. I have totally shelved several in recent weeks and left out portions of others before that, that I felt threw too much doubt on the legitimacy of God’s word. I may not understand it all, but I trust God to stand behind every word He has proclaimed.
In verse 17 Jesus clearly says,
…it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for a single stroke of a letter of the Law to fail and become void. AMP
It’s easier for a major earthquake followed by a tsunami to occur than for a single stroke of the letter of the Law to fail and become void! That’s like an apostrophe!
Think about that! God will not let us down! God is not going anywhere! And God has got us in the palm of His hand!
Yes, our bodies are frail. Scripture refers to them as tents (2 Corinthians 5:1) and jars of clay (2 Corinthians 4:7) and though these fragile containers can be destroyed, nothing can separate us from the love of God (Romans 8:38-39) and to be absent from the body is to be with the Lord (2 Corinthians 5:8).
So, with that being said I choose to be in the safest place in all of creation…in the arms of my Father who loves me! If anything wants to get to me, it has to get through Him first! And if that is His will…I’m home!
Sept 23rd, 2020, Wed, 1:07 pm