If you belong to God, you are in God, so nothing can get to you that doesn’t first have to pass by him. That doesn’t mean you won’t experience difficult circumstances; what it does mean is that no matter what, you win!
Read: Psalm 121 // Focus: Psalm 121:7-8
According to this psalm and a whole host of other Scripture, when I am in Christ, I am kept from all harm. But doesn’t that seem like a huge overstatement to you? It does to me! I mean, you and I and a whole lot of people we know have experienced harm—car wrecks, lost jobs, disease, divorce, and… well, pick your poison.
Ah, but is it really harm, child of God? It might hurt, and hurt a lot, but don’t we know by now that our Heavenly Father turns what is meant for evil into that which is good? “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.” (Genesis 50:20)
Doesn’t our Lord take all things—even really bad things—and turn then into things that reveal his glory in our lives? “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” (Romans 8:28)
Hasn’t he promised to never leave us nor forsake us? “No one will be able to stand against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you.” (Joshua 1:5)
Will he not be true to his Word and walk with us even through the valley of the shadow of death? “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.” (Psalm 23:4)
And when we die, didn’t Jesus himself promise that we really wouldn’t die? “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?” (John 11:25-26)
It sounds like no matter what, we win! Nothing can come to me that first doesn’t have to pass through the One who constantly watches over my comings and my goings. And to get to me, it first has to pass the Divine Purpose Test: If it can’t be used for his glory in my life, he prohibits it from harming me.
I like that, don’t you? He is watching over you and me, and the people we care about. So we can quit worrying and just relax in the safety of his hands. The German theologian, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who was held in a Nazi concentration camp during World War II, and finally martyred by hanging, wrote from his prison cell before his death, “Much that worries us beforehand can, quite unexpectedly, have a happy and simple solution… Things really are in a better hand than ours.”
The Lord is watching over you like a Heavenly Hawk, and nothing will escape his loving eye—not even one little detail. So be assured today that everything that comes your way—good and not so good—will be used in his great transformation project to turn you into the image of his dear Son.
And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them. For God knew his people in advance, and he chose them to become like his Son, so that his Son would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. (Romans 8:28-29)
Yeah, I like that!
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