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June 2002 Table of Contents
From My Heart To Yours
God‘s Protection Takes Strange Forms
By Jackie Evans
We hear so much about protection...alarms on our cars to notify of theft; alarms on our houses to signal intruders; some think guns are necessary for personal protection; motion detector light in our yards alert us to movement. People have been trying to protect themselves since early Bible days when walls fortified cities. The thicker the wall, the more protected the people were. Some walls were wide enough for six chariots to ride side-by-side!
But think about how God protects us in our every day situations; sometimes without our even realizing it.
I was cleaning out my Bible today and came across a note a young man had give me on one of our trips to Argentina. He wrote the scripture reference Deuteronomy 31:8; "God bless you" and signed his name. Refreshing my memory, I looked up the passage which I had previously highlighted and it said (Moses speaking), "The Lord Himself goes before you and He will be with you; He will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged."
I cannot tell you how much I needed that word today. We are facing a most important situation at J & J and I've been praying daily for the outcome. This reminded me that we're not gong into this battle alone; God HIMSELF has gone before us! He didn't send someone from heaven to represent Him, he went HIMSELF! What a treasure to know He cared enough to go before us Himself! There's no room for fear or discouragement with a God who provides us with so much protection.
God's protection is unfailing. In Joshua 1:5, God is speaking to Joshua when He says, "No one will be able to stand up against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will never leave you or forsake you (there it is again, He won't leave us or forsake us...in His own words this time).
He gives us more assurance in Isaiah 41:10 when He tells us that He will strengthen us, help us, and uphold us with His righteous right hand. In light of the protection we have available to us from God, it kind of makes the things we rely upon (alarms, lights, etc.) seem so insignificant.
Sometimes His protection isn't always pleasant...but it saves us from a worse situation. I think of Paul and the many years he spent in prison. Now prison sounds uncomfortable and you wouldn't necessarily think God was showing favor on Paul by placing him there. But really, He was! Paul had many people waiting for an opportunity to ambush him and kill him. God's protection for him was to imprison him and have him guarded round-the-clock saving him from certain death.
That's why we can rejoice in all things, even things we don't understand, because God may be showering us with his divine protection without us even realizing it.
Grateful for His Faithfulness,
Jackie
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