Lamp to my Feet

“At that time Michael, the great prince who protects your people, will arise. There will be a time of distress such as has not happened from the beginning of nations until then. But at that time your people—everyone whose name is found written in the book—will be delivered. ² Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake: some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt. 

I have a tattoo on my right foot.  It is Psalm 119:105 “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.”  It was a Mother’s Day present.  It’s a reminder to me on what keeps my faith strong.  God’s word.  I love God’s word.  I have spent years studying the reliability of his word. There are so many outside sources that corroborate the truth found in the pages of scripture, that I get giddy when I read them. 

God’s word is perfectly true and as hard as it is to read a rebuke meant to pull me back on the path, it is equally wonderful when I read words such as the ones in Daniel 12.  “But at that time your people—everyone whose name is found written in the book—will be delivered. ² Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake: some to everlasting life…”

I just love that! The promise of everlasting life.  This was actually the first time the reference to everlasting life was used in scripture.  How comforting it is to read that things are going to get hard, real hard.  A time of distress such as has not happened from the beginning of nations hard, but there is hope.

Everlasting life. It is promised for God’s people.  This world is not the end.  All the trouble, disease, evil, and deception are not the end.  God has a plan.  It was rolled up in a scroll and saved for the exact right time, but it will come to pass.  His word says it will, so I believe it.

Turn this Mess into a Message

“The days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, a King who will reign wisely and do what is just and right in the land. ⁶ In his days Judah will be saved and Israel will live in safety.This is the name by which he will be called: The Lord Our Righteous Savior.  Jeremiah 23: 5-6

Have you turned on the news lately?  Have you gone on Facebook and scrolled through your news feed?  The world is a scary place right now.  It seems that every few days another tragedy is taking center stage and lives are being forever changed.

It is so easy to feel hopeless and afraid if we only look through the temporal lens.  If we don’t go deeper than what humanity can accomplish, it looks as if all is lost.  Thankfully, God rose up for David “a righteous Branch, a King who will reign wisely and do what is just and right in the land.”

In the midst of evil and despair I have to constantly remind myself that, the LORD our Righteous Savior, Jesus, is still on the throne.  God is in total control.  We are not out of his reach.  His grace is still actively calling to us, drawing us closer to him and reaching those who do not yet know him.

Our response to the evil is to love as he loves us.  Don’t confuse my words please.  We are to love, because God is love and we are love like him.  We are not called to worship love.  Love is not God.  Love is not the answer, God is the answer and he calls us to love each other as he loves us.

How has he loved us? He thought of us first. He gave us Jesus; who left his place in heaven, limited himself by becoming man and ultimately dying for us.  We are called to live like that.  Think of others first, but in order to do that you have to cast off fear and trust that God is in control.

You must trust that God has you.  The mess in this world is not too big for our Righteous Branch.  Let’s let God turn this mess into a message!  Let’s share the message of hope to a hopeless world.