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The Only Safe Place in Life.
Devotional Thought of the Day:
16 Jerusalem, I can never forget you! I have written your name on the palms of my hands. Isaiah 49:16 (TEV)
5 Lord, we are glad to find ourselves in your wounded palm. Grasp us tight, squeeze us hard, make us lose all our earthly wretchedness, purify us, set us on fire, make us feel drenched in your Blood. And then, cast us far, far away, hungry for the harvest, to sow the seed more fruitfully each day, for Love of you. (1)
I live in a land of earthquakes. I have friends that live in Tornado alleys, others who live in the normal paths of hurricanes, Where I grew up, snow storms could strand you for a week. Where my first church was located, you could dehydrate so fast that you could die before you knew it. There are places where there are wars, cities where drugs and gang violence is rampant.
I have come to this conclusion, if you are searching for a safe place to live, there is no such geographical location on the earth. As long as we are alive, there will be some threat living over us.
Some of us even have those threats inside us, for me, it was a genetic issue that affected my heart. For others, it may a tendency to addiction.
There can even be problems and threats inside places that should be safe, churches, schools, hospitals.
Is there a safe place?
Where do we go for safety, for refuge, for sanctuary?
Is there a place where we can know peace?
There is a place, rather, there is a person, and the relationship we have with Him, that is our sanctuary, that is our place of refuge, He is our peace.
Even in the worse cases. Consider in the book of Daniel, the three men in the furnace:
16 Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered, “Your Majesty, we will not try to defend ourselves. 17 If the God whom we serve is able to save us from the blazing furnace and from your power, then he will. 18 But even if he doesn’t, Your Majesty may be sure that we will not worship your god, and we will not bow down to the gold statue that you have set up.” 19 Then Nebuchadnezzar lost his temper, and his face turned red with anger at Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. So he ordered the furnace to be heated seven times hotter than usual. 20 And he commanded the strongest men in his army to tie the three men up and throw them into the blazing furnace. 21 So they tied them up, fully dressed—shirts, robes, caps, and all—and threw them into the blazing furnace. 22 Now because the king had given strict orders for the furnace to be made extremely hot, the flames burned up the guards who took the men to the furnace. 23 Then Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, still tied up, fell into the heart of the blazing fire. 24 Suddenly Nebuchadnezzar leaped to his feet in amazement. He asked his officials, “Didn’t we tie up three men and throw them into the blazing furnace?” They answered, “Yes, we did, Your Majesty.” 25 “Then why do I see four men walking around in the fire?” he asked. “They are not tied up, and they show no sign of being hurt—and the fourth one looks like an angel.” Daniel 3:16-25 (TEV)
Jesus was there, and in the midst of the the moment, they knew His peace. They found their refuge.
Daniel Himself knew such opposition,
20 When he got there, he called out anxiously, “Daniel, servant of the living God! Was the God you serve so loyally able to save you from the lions?” 21 Daniel answered, “May Your Majesty live forever! 22 God sent his angel to shut the mouths of the lions so that they would not hurt me. He did this because he knew that I was innocent and because I have not wronged you, Your Majesty.” 23 The king was overjoyed and gave orders for Daniel to be pulled up out of the pit. So they pulled him up and saw that he had not been hurt at all, for he trusted God. Daniel 6:19-23 (TEV)
A final example, this time Stephen in the New Testament, who was killed, and tortured, and yet…. knew peace, and was in a very special refuge.
54 As the members of the Council listened to Stephen, they became furious and ground their teeth at him in anger. 55 But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw God’s glory and Jesus standing at the right side of God. 56 “Look!” he said. “I see heaven opened and the Son of Man standing at the right side of God!” 57 With a loud cry the Council members covered their ears with their hands. Then they all rushed at him at once, 58 threw him out of the city, and stoned him. The witnesses left their cloaks in the care of a young man named Saul. 59 They kept on stoning Stephen as he called out to the Lord, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!” 60 He knelt down and cried out in a loud voice, “Lord! Do not remember this sin against them!” He said this and died. Acts 7:54-60 (TEV)
Even there, in this midst of death itself, in the moments when all hell is trying to break loose, in what many would never be able to comprehend the existence of peace, there it is.
For the Lord was with the three men! He was with Daniel, He was with Stephen!
And the Lord is with you.
No matter the trauma, no matter the disaster, no matter the threat. No matter what, we are covered by His blood, sent by Him into these places, to be a beacon of hope, a reminder of God’s love and mercy and peace. For you need to know and count on this.
The Lord is with you!
and that is why Paul writes to us
6 Don’t worry about anything, but in all your prayers ask God for what you need, always asking him with a thankful heart. 7 And God’s peace, which is far beyond human understanding, will keep your hearts and minds safe in union with Christ Jesus! Philippians 4:6-7 (TEV)
Amen!
Escriva, Josemaria (2011-01-31). The Forge (Kindle Locations 249-252). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.
Yes! Come!
Yes, Come!
Mark 14:22-33
† Jesus, Son, Savior †
May you know the grace and peace of God our Father, without which it trust enough to cry out to God to save you!
A Story of Deep Faithfulness.
Many people see the song we just sang, A Mighty Fortress, as an anthem, a glorious, powerful anthem, a militant march that prepares us to go off to war against evil, prepared to win all the battles in our spiritual war against Satan’s evil, against the storms of life.
A great cry of confidence and faith as we prepare to engage in a warfare that people’s soul’s depend upon.
I don’t see it that way, which is why we sang it the way we did. I see it as the song of Luther, a man brutalized and battered by the world and by his own battles with sin. Luther who stands on the castle’s walls, relieved that God has taken up the battle. Luther who can now find rest, and perhaps some peace, for once… some peace.
A mighty Fortress is our God, a bulwark never failing…..
There are days we know we need such protection, such a strong God, and we are immensely grateful for His presence. When we are grateful beyond description for His presence, for His faithfulness, for His coming to us.
Then there are the other days, when we forget His presence…….
That is the story of faithfulness, that we see in St. Peter’s encounter with God this day:
The Storms of Life
The storm hits, its fury increases, the spray of the waves and wind soak him to the bone. Peter’s is struggling, the storm is capturing all his attention, as he realizes he is in the struggle for his life.
Catching a glimpse of Jesus, of the one they will later realize again is God, who has come and lived in their midst, Peter calls out to the Lord.
The Lord responds, “Yes,,…. Come!”
Twice in the story this scenario is seen.
A Storm,
Overwhelming Fear
Seeing God
A Cry of Help
The Lord, his Master, answers.
And the storms quiet down, as the disciples once again find themselves in awe of the Lord who comes to them.
The two times the story is seen.
First this happens in the boat, as the disciples have been struggling all night against the storm. They are tired, and weakened. They bones ache from the work, or is that they ache because of the cold? Lutheran answer – both of course!
They took off in daylight – it is 8 hours later now, that they’ve been rowing this boat across the lake. They aren’t just fighting the winds and the waves, now they are literally fighting against death, against the anxiety. They might even be thinking, is it worth it anymore.
Jesus comes to them, reaches out to them. Tells them not to be afraid, for it is not some spook, but it is their Lord. He has come for them.
I AM here….
The I AM being the sacred name of God not just – hey, it’s me.
God, the Creator, the I AM that I AM of Abraham, Issac, Jacob, Moses, Joshua, David….
I AM here…
And therefore everything changes.
A few moments later, the waves crash again, against a rough handed brash man who trusts in God. These waves cause instant fear, and instant sense of the closeness of death. The fear rises in Peter, not just over time – but instantaneously he knows he has no hope…..
He cries out, perhaps with what he thinks will be his last breath….Lord, save me!
And on top the waves, Jesus reaches down, grabs Peter’s hands, as if answering again…. Yes! Come!
I am your Lord, I am your savior, I am your strength, your fortress, your sanctuary, the place where you are safe.
He Has Come, He is waiting,
That is the thing about Jesus, He comes to us, He hears us call.
He sees us in our struggles, He knows our pains, what afflicts and depresses us. He knows what causes us anxiety, He knows the fear when we are sinking.
He is here…..
He is reaching our His hand to us,
He is answering our cry, “Lord Save us” as we realize that we can call out to Him, that He is our hope, whether we are in the boat, or whether we are trying what others call impossible.
Do not fear, I am Here.
Yes, come, let us travel this road together.
That’s What King’s do
Peter’s cry, in both circumstances, starts with the word “Lord”. And this is the key, perhaps more than anything. He realizes the nature of the relationship, that as His master, as His King, Jesus has the responsibility in the relationship. That Jesus will provide and protect, who is in control, and who saves, who loves and comes to us. That is what Lord’s and King’s and Master’s are supposed to do, to care for their people, to provide for them.
This is the nature of the relationship that God has created us to be in with Him. Not one of servants, but that of His children, His friend
We need to realize something else about this story.
When Jesus noted that Peter had “little faith”, it is the same Greek compound word that Jesus uses when he says,
20 “You don’t have enough faith,” Jesus told them. “I tell you the truth, if you had faith even as small as a mustard seed, you could say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it would move. Nothing would be impossible.” Matthew 17:20 (NLT)
Peter had enough faith to cry out to Jesus, to plead with Jesus to save Him.
But that is not all faith is for, it is the trust to walk with Him, on water, or to deliver a cup of water, or to share with how the water of baptism brings you the hope, that the Lord is with you and will be with you until the end of the age. To know that He is Lord, no matter what the situation, no matter what the storm. It doesn’t even matter if there is no storm, for He is with you – He has come to you, even on the beautifully calm mornings on the lake. He tells you – Yes Come with me, and so we walk, and pray, talking to our Lord along the ways of life!
He is your Lord, and doesn’t even have to walk across a lake to come to you… He is here… He has reached out to you, and taken your hand Therefore you dwell guarded, protected, in the Fortress that is Jesus Christ, our King.
AMEN?
