Thursday, July 17, 2014

Thursday Thought -- July 17, 2014

Good Morning Friends,

“The LORD spoke to me with his strong hand upon me, warning me not to follow the way of this people. He said: ‘Do not call conspiracy everything that these people call conspiracy; do not fear what they fear, and do not dread it. The LORD Almighty is the one you are to regard as holy, he is the one you are to fear, he is the one you are to dread, and he will be a sanctuary; but for both houses of Israel he will be a stone that causes men to stumble and a rock that makes them fall. And for the people of Jerusalem he will be a trap and a snare.’” (Isaiah 8:11-14)

What do the people of this world fear?
Death. Sickness. Pain. Poverty. Hunger.

But these are not the things to fear. These are not the things that control life, nor that determine life’s purpose and life’s outcome.

There is only One to fear. There is only One who controls life. There is only One who controls death. There is only One who controls pain and sickness and poverty and hunger and all of the other things of this world of which men are afraid.

And we need not fear Him! The world may tremble at Him. But He has made His love known to us. He has shown His love in ways that can never be doubted.

Death, sickness, pain, poverty, hunger, oh, they may come into our lives, but they need not be feared. God in His great love and mercy has overcome them all for us in Christ.

Death, it doesn’t end life, He has overcome it and uses it to usher us into eternity with Him. Pain and sickness and poverty and hunger, He uses to teach us, discipline, mature us.

To some, God seems a stumbling block because life doesn’t always turn out the way we think He should make it turn out. But to those who truly know Him – He is a safe haven, a sanctuary, even amidst the storms that others fear.

His, by Grace,


Steve

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