#2 - Security
I couldn’t sleep last night. In between the 10 minute cat naps I heard a
horrible story about a 3 year old girl, on vacation with her parents in France,
who was left behind at a rest area. For
some unknown reason, the parents didn’t realize it for 90 miles. 90 MILES!
The reporter giving the story said that the 3 year old was able to say
these words - “dad’s car left me.”
WOW. How she must have felt all
alone in that rest stop area. Thankfully
the police were able to find the parents and reunite the child.
It’s one of our worst fears as a young person isn’t
it? Being alone. Being alone or being forsaken has caused many
young people to do things they may never have done if they just had the security
to know that they were loved and cared for by someone at home.
One of the great assurances we have as a believer,
one of the rocks we hold tight to in our most difficult times is the truth of
the security we have in Jesus Christ. He
has promised that he will NEVER (ever, ever, ever) Leave us and Never will he
forsake us. Isn’t that good new! Here, you read them for yourself:
Hebrews
13:5 - Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you
have, because God has said, "Never will I leave you; never will I forsake
you."
Duet.
31:6 - Be strong and courageous. Do not fear or be in dread of them, for it is
the LORD your God who goes with you. He will not leave you or forsake you.”
All of us have been left alone at some point, whether
by a scorned ex-girlfriend, or a mean set of personal friends or even by a
parent struggling to make ends meet. It
is an uneasy feeling. God has made us to
be in community with people. The problem
is often PEOPLE. We pick and choose and
some are left out, left alone or left deserted by ones they thought were close
to them. We often feel that way in our
most desperate of crisis as well. Often
times we cry out to God - “God, where
are you? I need you, I am alone and I
can’t go on…GOD, WHERE ARE YOU? (Have
you ever been there?)
Hear again the words of the Lord - “I will never
leave you, I will never forsake you…”
When we fail to see him in the midst of our deepest
need or are most hurtful times of loneliness, the reality is this - He never
left. He never forsook, renounced,
abandon, deserted, quit, left or rejected us ever for all times! When we thought he moved away, he actually
moved closer. Don’t believe me? Hear again what his word says:
Isaiah
41:10 - fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will
strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right
hand.
Isaiah
41:17 - When the poor and needy seek water, and there is none, and their tongue
is parched with thirst, I the LORD will answer them; I the God of Israel will
not forsake them.
Psalm
37:25 - I was young and now I am old, yet I have never seen the righteous
forsaken or their children begging bread.
Isaiah
42:16 - I will lead the blind by ways they have not known, along unfamiliar paths
I will guide them; I will turn the darkness into light before them and make the
rough places smooth. These are the things I will do; I will not forsake them.
Isaiah
55:1 - "Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who
have no money, come, buy and eat!
Isaiah
58:11 - The LORD will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a
sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a
well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail.
Isaiah
65:24 - Before they call I will answer; while they are still speaking I will
hear.
Are those not amazing verses from God through his
word?! Not only will he not leave us, or
will he not forsake us, but also he promises that nothing will separate us from
his love. God said in the book of Romans
theses amazing words. When you are
fearful, when you feel like everyone has abandon you and no one loves you - go
to this verse and be renewed by the fact that nothing can separate you from God’s
love for you as his dear child. Here is
the verse:
Rm.
8:31 - What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can bei
against us? 32He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how
will he not also with him graciously give us all things? 33Who shall bring any
charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. 34Who is to condemn?
Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the
right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.j 35Who shall separate us
from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or
famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? 36As it is written,
“For
your sake we are being killed all the day long;we are regarded as sheep to be
slaughtered.”
37No,
in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38For
I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things
present nor things to come, nor powers, 39nor height nor depth, nor anything
else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in
Christ Jesus our Lord.
And then, listen to what Jesus said about our
security and the power of God - these verses our amazing:
"My
sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; and I give eternal
life to them, and they shall never perish; and no one shall snatch them out of
My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one
is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand." (John 10:27-29)
Here it is believers - do
not fret, or worry or be insecure in your faith. God has given you a great and mighty gift -
Salvation. And he is willing to protect
that gift at all cost. No one is as
strong as he is; no one is as powerful as he is - he will keep you secure. AND - do not be afraid when you feel alone or
forsaken by the world. God has never
forsaken you, nor will he ever leave you.
Every one of our earthly friends may threaten to, but God never will.
I moved to Chicago Illinois
with my family when I was a small boy.
Our family had grown in five years to Mom, Dad and 4 boys and 1
girl. Now, if you do not know me, let me
just say that we didn’t grow up in the “MINIVAN” era. Mom had all five of us in our Datsun Station
wagon, or should I say MINI station wagon.
I remember sitting in the back and mom popping the clutch. The car jerked and I went flying, hitting the
back gate and popping it open. The next
thing I remember is hitting the pavement and watching mom drive away. Horrified, I jumped to my feet and ran as
fast as my 5 year old legs could take me fearing that mom wasn’t going to see
me and leave me all alone. Believers, to
many of us feel like I did, especially when crisis hits our life. We feel like a 5 year old running after God,
not thinking he sees us or he hears us, or worse yet, that he wants nothing to
do with us. Poppycock! Today, let His very words speak security to
you. He will never leave you, he will
never forsake you and nothing can separate you from His glorious love.
You are Loved!
