“The LORD is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.” Psalm 18:2
As a parent, I’ve seen some things you can’t unsee.
I’ve also had moments that I thought I would have a heart attack because of what one of my kids was doing. Kids are very good at scaring their parents. Last night was no exception. Why is it that children become ninjas in the middle of the night? I was sound asleep last night when both my wife and I got the sense that someone was standing over our bed. If you’re a parent then you know where I’m going with this. Our daughter had a nightmare and so she decided to share that nightmare with us by apparently standing over us like some sort of creepy character from the Ring or the Grudge. I startled awake like I always do when someone is just staring at me while I sleep, my was heart racing as I struggled to regain my composure and fully awaken.
My daughter was frightened by dreams, and soon enough her twin brother, who sleeps in the same room, joined us as well. Needless to say, it was a long night last night. All of that to say this: My kids knew where their safety would be found. As parents we protect our children, even if they decide to scare the living daylights out of you in the middle of the night. The security of Mom and Dad is known by our children, and so instinctively they come to us when they are afraid.
Isn’t it interesting that this never changes with God either?
When we become afraid, feel alone or in dire need we run to our safe, secure Rock that we
can cling to. He is always there to provide safety and security! His strength and light shines and frightens all of the darkness away! He is our Savior and the One who calms the storms of this life! I would venture like any parent, our Heavenly Father becomes afraid for us at times. He longs to rush in and rescue us. Perhaps it is just me, but I think of my Heavenly Father like that – fulfilling that role. His strength is sufficient for any task and any danger. That doesn’t mean that we go looking for trouble, but when trouble finds us, and it will, we can cling to the Rock of our Salvation! Run to Him! Tell Him of your fears. Allow His mighty hands to enfold you and protect you. Find comfort and encouragement in Him today ! He is Your Rock and Your Salvation…do not be afraid!! So let me ask you…what are you afraid of???
Prayer: Dear Lord, I confess that in life I have fear. Some of them are rational, while others are irrational fears. Help me when trouble comes my way. Protect me from the evil one. Rescue me when I call, and even before that, Lord, thank you for being there for me! You are my strength today, and no matter what dangers I may face, help me to know that You are there with me! I find comfort and strength in You, O Lord. -Amen and amen!
We see this all the time though don’t we? There is a lot of hate in our world today. Wouldn’t it be amazing to worship and adore God so much that we naturally love our neighbors around us? What an amazing world we would live in if we respected and loved one another because our first love was God. Even the people of Jesus’ day questioned who their neighbors were. In Luke, right after Jesus repeats the Shema Yisrael and speaks of loving our neighbor, one of the teachers asks “who is my neighbor?” You can almost hear the wheels churning in this man’s mind. Can we pick and choose who our neighbor is? Does my neighbor look like me, have the same interest as me, perhaps have the same skin color as me? Is “my neighbor” those I choose to associate myself with? The answer is NO! Jesus takes it a step further and tells them the parable of the Good Samaritan to illustrate our neighbor is more than people who look like us, talk like us, and have the same interests or cultural practices.
Loving God with all of our being broadens the world around us.
This reminded me of another story. A story that Jesus told. It was about a woman who had lost one of her ten silver coins. This may have been all that she owned in the world, and losing just one of those coins would have been devastating to her. So she tears her house apart looking for this lost coin until she finds it. Then she calls her neighbors together to celebrate with her. Jesus told this tale to illustrate just how important every person on this earth is to Him. He doesn’t want to lose anyone along the way. In fact, just before this story Jesus told another story – the parable of the lost sheep, and at the very end of that story He said, “I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.”
This was more than coincidental, this signified God’s presence would no longer just reside in the temple, but He could be accessed by everyone all because of what Christ did on the cross.
It would be easy to say that we would respond like the Good Samaritan in Jesus’ story, but is that really true sometimes? When we have deadlines to meet, appointments to keep, miles of road to drive to get to those “responsibilities” – would we stop what we were doing to lend a helping hand? How important are the burdens of those around us? Can we even see past the issues that we face in order to see the needs of others? It is far easier to put our noses back into our busyness, say “Oh I’m way too busy”, and never look around us. It is far easier to think “I’ll just let someone else take care of that person’s needs”…but what if God holds us accountable for those moments that we never cared or simply passed that responsibility onto “someone else”? Would that change how we look at others? What if God placed those burdens of others in our path so that we could help, but we didn’t lift a finger…could we really be called Christ-followers then? “For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink…” Matthew 25:42.
No one wants to hang out with a negative person all the time do they?
Pastor's Ponderings 