Not Forsaken

God has said,

“Never will I leave you;
    never will I forsake you.”

So we say with confidence,

“The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid.
    What can mere mortals do to me?”

Hebrews 13:5b-6

Last week Chinese family members of missing Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 received a text message from the Malaysian government telling them that the plane went down in the Indian Ocean and that all were lost. This particularly blunt and impersonal message, which reportedly was also poorly translated into Chinese, left these people stunned and angry.

Unshakable

Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, for our “God is a consuming fire”f (Hebrews 12:27-28).

In December 1972 a friend of mine who worked as an international representative was in Nicaragua on a business assignment when a major earthquake hit the capital of Managua. He fled his hotel room to seek safety in the street. 6000 died. A few months later another major quake rocked a city in Italy. My friend was probably the only person in the world in both quakes. Again he found himself escaping from his hotel into the street as buildings collapsed. He was shaken in more ways that one.

Russia and Ukraine

Sunday morning I noticed that my friend and brother, Jack Frederick, had posted something on Facebook that I believe needs to be shared with others. Here is a slightly condensed version of Jack’s post.

Please remember the disciples in Russia and Ukraine during the troubling times in Crimea. And I say to all whom I love in these two nations, I am praying for you and I plead with you to keep your eyes fixed on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith (Heb 12:1-3). The hearts of your brothers and sisters are with you; you are our family and you are precious to us.

Bitter to Sweet

See to it that no one misses the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many. (Hebrews 12:15)

I painfully remember a time in my life, though it was a long time ago, when I had grown bitter. I don’t think I recognized at the time what my condition really was. I suspect I would have recoiled at the word “bitter,” but it manifested itself in a lot of complaining, blaming and other forms of negativity. Indeed, I was bitter.

Even Though

At times on my journey of faith, there have been moments when I have wondered, are we just fooling ourselves? Is it crazy to talk about being secure in our faith? After all, there are so many things we don’t understand. There are so many pieces we can’t explain and so many questions we can’t answer. At such times, I find a passage from the Letter to the Hebrews gives a needed insight: