Hold on Tight - Coming soon

"Every word of God is pure; He is a shield to those who put their trust in Him." (Proverbs 30:5 NKJV)

There is nothing in this fallen creation which can be said to be pure except the Word of God. That makes the Bible that has been accurately and divinely preserved for millennia absolutely unique and pricelessly valuable.

The very next verse in this Proverb warns against adding to His Word in anyway, and this solemn admonition is repeated in various forms throughout its 66 books. The strongest prohibition in this regard appears in Revelation, where Christ Himself declares that either adding to or subtracting from the Word will disqualify someone from entrance into Heaven.

The foundation of true Christianity is the “whole counsel of God” as given to us in Scripture. Both the Old and New Testaments serve as the bedrock of the faith “once for all delivered to the saints”.

Because of this we are encouraged and exhorted to “Be diligent to present [ourselves] approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.”

Immersion in God’s Word is the only way that we can accurately know who God is, and what He is like. It is also how we can be inoculated against deception, and thus it is called the Sword of the Spirit, cutting through the lies of the Enemy and our flesh. It is the means by which we cleanse ourselves from the evil and filth of this world.

Now note the second part of the above verse: “He is a shield to those who put their trust in Him.”

These two truths are inextricably related and woven together in the tightest weave possible.

When we live our lives understanding the purity of God’s Word, and use it to draw closer to Him, the natural result is trusting in His love and mercy and infinite power. Of course, then, we can rightly view Him as our shield; a fortress against the darkness and unmitigated iniquity of this world.

So when we are overwhelmed by our circumstances, when we are in the midst of despair or pain or loss, we are to turn to God through His Word... 

“casting all our care upon Him, for He cares for [us].” (1 Peter 5:7 NKJV)

In Him,

Bill L

“So I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten…”  (Joel 2:25 NKJV)

Throughout the history of ancient Israel, God judged the nation repeatedly for its rebellion against Him. Oftentimes He used the nations around her. At other times He used famine or drought or other natural disasters.

The prophet Joel in the Old Testament gives us the details of God at one point punishing the nation by bringing upon it massive swarms of various kinds of locusts. These rapacious insects devastated Israel’s crops leading to severe hardship.

While all His judgements were just and in response to the nation’s apostasy and idolatry, the Lord vowed never to make a complete end of His people, always promising to show them mercy; a promise which we see actively playing out on the world stage today.

The context of the verse of above is yet another instance of God’s immeasurable grace toward a people He had chosen and nurtured for millennia, but who frequently rejected His perfect will for them.

In that sense, Israel is a picture of every human being who refuses to believe the gospel, who through stubbornness and pride and a love of sin, willfully hold Christ’s offer of forgiveness and eternal life in utter contempt.

But when that individual finally turns and repents of their sin and believes on the Lord Jesus Christ, that everlasting mercy that He promises to bestow upon Israel is theirs, as well. 

Before becoming a Christian, I spent decades wasting my life on sinful activities too numerous to mention. While in the short run these gave me brief satisfaction and pleasure, ultimately they led  to a despairing emptiness that made my life not worth living. Like the barren locust-devoured fields of ancient Israel, I could find nothing that sustained or nurtured me in any meaningful way.

I ended up starving in a profound spiritual sense, without hope, without purpose and with barely a reason to continue.

Then Jesus found me and got a hold of my heart and through a miracle of God’s grace, I believed.

It was a simple transaction really. He opened my eyes to the truth of who He is and what He had done for me on the Cross, and of the beauty and necessity of His Word. And in exchange, He took upon Himself the penalty of my sin-filled useless life, and gave me His glorious life in its place.

Where before hopelessness, despair and futility darkened all my horizons, now the radiance of a life given over to Him destroyed all that darkness, and undeserved blessing after blessing followed.

He had indeed restored all the years that the locusts had eaten.

In Him,

Bill L