"One resounding thought echos in my mind this morning... It's scary to be us.
Us. The people of earth. We walk this land each day never thinking that it could be our last. We put a lot faith in our bodies to sustain us. There is word for the emotion I feel: Robatosis - The unsettling awareness of your own heartbeat. My heart beats steadily and faithfully each day. Until one day, it won't. Every day reality for us is there are such things are cancer, war, disease, and terrorism. We hope that today, each day, that it won't affect us. Every day I pray a sincere prayer; "God protect my family from evil." And that is what the profound problem is: there is evil in the world. The Word warns us: "Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith" (1 Peter 5:8-9). To know this truth! There is a real enemy roaming this world. All the evil things that happen to us in this world can be attributed to him, the evil one. Many people are fooled into thinking that there is no devil, but I tell you that he is very real. There is a real and literal battle going on in the spiritual realms between good and evil . Ephesians 6:12 says“For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.” There is truly a battle that wages all around us. We are charged to be "sober minded and alert" waiting in watch for such signs of spiritual warfare. There is a reason God inspired these words to warn us. Many in these times ask, "Where was God on 9/11?" or "If there was a God, He would have prevented the Holocaust" or mock Christians saying, "Some God that you serve, a sleeping God who allows children to be murdered, innocent people to be cruelly defiled, and extremists to annihilate entire people groups." Some may think that the mere existence of things like rape, genocide, or starvation proves that there is no God and if there was they are appalled that anyone would ever be blind enough to serve such a God. There is a critical error in that reasoning. World, you've forgotten of the evil one. "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy" (John 10:10.) We have to know that. The "thief" wants nothing more than to hide in the shadows, inventing ways to destroy us, rip our families apart, and encouraging hate all over the world. And he wants nothing more than for the people of the world to attribute all the horrible things that happen to us to God. Give credit where credit is due : it is the evil one we should blame. This is why I write: it is scary to be us. We are so defenseless on our own in an evil world, a fallen world. We leave our homes each day in our fragile bodies and walk with a consciousness that this day could hold great suffering and heartbreak. But oh, beloved, He knows this. He must know that it is scary to be us. I hang on to that. But there's more. Jesus said, "In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). Christ Jesus became sin for us. He delivered himself into the hands of evil so that we might have the chance to conquer it. Praise Him that I have that promise and I know that "greater is HE that is in me than he that is in the world" (1 John 4:4). I need that, oh I need that. What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us,who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? 33 Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. 34 Who then is the one who condemns?No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? 36 As it is written:“For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”[a] 37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,[b] neither the present nor the future, nor any powers,39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Yes beloved, "the thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy" BUT Christ declares, "I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full" (John 10:10). I have to believe this. I need this truth with all of me. The world aches for this truth along with me. How tragic it is that many do not have this peace. Yes, it is scary to be us. But I am not afraid. "Fear not for I am with you." declares my God. "Do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. Sweet friend, we will have trouble." We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed" (2 Corinthians 4:8-9). I am not afraid.
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Savannah MaberrySpecial Education Teacher (Snyder, TX) |