Our Faithful God Watches Over Us!
For August 22, 2021
In over six-thousand years of our human history, our God has demonstrated how loving, gracious, and compassionate He is to us. He is faithful to watch over, provide, and protect His own.
For instance, as the Children of Israel were sojourning through the wilderness for forty years, they ventured northward along the eastern side of the Dead Sea and the Jordan River where they encountered Balak, the King of Moab.
The Moabites were descendants of Lot, the nephew of Abraham (Genesis 11:26-27; 19:37). Balak, who was fearful of an Israelite invasion, hires Balaam, son of Beor to curse Israel. Balaam was well known for his blessing and cursing prowess, but he was no match against Israel, because God promised Abraham that his descendants (Israel) would be blessed and a blessing (Genesis 12:1-3).
Consequently, God compelled Balaam to bless Israel repeatedly, and when asked to explain his actions, he makes this statement,
God is not a man, that He should lie, nor a son of man, that He should repent. Has He said, and will He not do? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good? Behold, I have received a command to bless; He has blessed, and I cannot reverse it (Numbers 23:19-20 NKJV).
It is comforting to know that we serve a faithful, loving God who will not rescind His promises to provide all our needs according to His riches in glory—through Christ Jesus our Lord just as Philippians 4:19 tells us.
Matthew 4:5-6 (NLT) offers an account of our Lord’s victorious encounter with Satan immediately after His forty-day fast in the wilderness. Futilely, Satan challenges the Lord to jump from the highest point of the Temple at Jerusalem in order to invoke the protection of his angels,
Then the devil took him to the holy city, Jerusalem, to the highest point of the Temple, and said, “If you are the Son of God, jump off! For the Scriptures say, ‘He will order his angels to protect you. And they will hold you up with their hands so you won’t even hurt your foot on a stone.
It is common tactic for our Enemy to take Scripture passages, like Psalm 91:11-12 out of context to achieve his nefarious plan to confuse and defeat the God’s Children. For the Psalmist never implied we have the license to jump off tall structures and rely on the angels to protect us. Nor did he imply we have carte blanche and invoke God to do everything we want.
God will always have a far better perspective than the one we have, and He will do what is best in every situation. This is because our Lord has a far better view of what is best for us from His eternal, transcendent, and flawless perspective. With goodness and mercy, He responds in our best interest every time,
You prepare a feast for me in the presence of my enemies. You honor me by anointing my head with oil. My cup overflows with blessings. Surely your goodness and unfailing love will pursue me all the days of my life, and I will live in the house of the LORD forever (Psalm 23 :5-6 NLT).
We will never get everything we want as it would not be in our best interest. Yet, the Lord will supply our needs by providing things that allow us to accomplish His perfect will for us. This news is especially comforting in troubling, uncertain times like today. For if all we had to rely on was a mere “arm of flesh,” we would be ruined.
Thank God that just as ancient Israel found comfort and in their Eternal, Almighty God, we too can have the same confidence and assurance (my emphasis),
Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or discouraged because of the king of Assyria and the vast army with him, for there is a greater power with us than with him. With him is only the arm of flesh, but with us is the Lord our God to help us and to fight our battles (2 Chronicles 32:7-8 NIV).
Through our faith in Jesus Christ, God’s greatest miracle occurs—we become forgiven, reconciled, new creations! This is His perfect will for us because our inner, spiritual nature has been sin-tarnished so that we think, speak, and act in ways detrimental others and ourselves. This nature offends God and must be transformed spiritually.
The good news is God can change our nature from vile and sinful to pure and holy, through the Born Again experience. When a computer is contaminated, it can function, but not as designed or at optimum level. However, once the virus is removed, and the hard drive is formatted properly; the machine can function at optimum level as designed. Much like this computer illustration, sin contaminated us, and we need spiritual reformatting.
Our transformation can happen the instant we acknowledge our contamination by confessing our sin before God, and by turning from the continual practice of sinful behavior through repentance. We then place our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and His Holy Spirit enables us to function according to our God ordained, original design—at full capacity!
In Christ, we can ask confidently with a sincere, humble, reverent, selfless faith. Then we can experience His eternal peace, providence, and satisfaction forever. We can have full confidence in the Lord and His promises, because as the Creator and Sustainer of the heavens and the earth, He keeps His promises. Won’t give Him your life and trust in His faithfulness today?
What a Wonderful Savior!