March 12, 2009
GODSBESTOS
Saw a picture in the paper a few hours ago....a man who had been burned horribly, years ago, has survived and risen to the challenges of making a worthwhile life while still carrying profound scars.
Fire can be awful. It can turn life on end in seconds.
That's why a promise in Isaiah is so striking..."when you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze. For I am the Lord, your God....your Savior." 43:2ff.
I like to think of it this way....the hottest places of life, the places that could "fry" you, won't - when you have the Lord as your Companion.
Life has hot places...like the "hot" place those of you are in, who read this from Afghanistan.
But actually, for all of us it can get "hot" - when the income gets drained, when illness comes our way, when someone's actions affect us in ways hard to control, when self-will plays into terrible choices and awful consequences...when death takes someone from us that we love. It can get hot in a heartbeat.
The word of the promise is "when you walk through the fire" not "if you walk..." God is not surprised by any of our hot places. Jesus sweat drops of blood...it got so "hot" for Him just before the cross.
Then, as we look to God, it becomes His deal. "You will not be burned." It is His word. His promise. Time for Godsbestos. In the fire, but not burned up. Heat but no panic. Surprized but not alarmed. Concerned but not without faith.
May we today, if in a very hot place, be like the three young men, who one day found themselves in a furnace - bound with ropes, destined to fry........but then they looked and saw Someone in the furnace with them....and walking around at that.
It was God come to save them.
It was God's special Agent, sent with a bundle of Godsbestos.
The ropes that had tied them up burned off and they got up and walked around too with their special Agent....."unharmed."
(Read more in Daniel chapter 3)
May we today turn the hot places of life into faith encounters with God.
Beliving for Godsbestos...with you.
David
*Godsbestos - a word coined from God + asbestos.
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1 comment:
Jesus promised, ". . . [B]e of good cheer, I have overcome the world." But He also promised, "In the world you have tribulation." God makes many promises, some ultimate and absolute. Some are general and subject to exceptions. The 3 in the fiery furnace acknowledged as much, when they said God is able to rescue them, but even if He does not, they will not bow to false gods. Martyrdom, hardship, or other heavy-duty problems comes to Christians, because there is no absolute promise they won't. On the contrary, we are generally promised they will. Paul says to weigh it in the scale of perspective. The sufferings of this life are unworthy to be compared to eternity with God. There you will find a final, indestructible firewall.
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