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robnaomi@oceana.net
Psalm 121
March 25, 2001 am
We used to own a black Chevy Astro Mini-van. I loved it! On numerous occasions we would load it up with teenagers and go somewhere. As far as a family vehicle, it was wonderful. With two children, we were able to give them an assigned seat and they could sleep without bothering each other.
One weekend we went to Indiana Wesleyan for a graduation. We arrived to a Days Inn in Fort Wayne, checked into our room and unpacked for the night. I went back out to drive the van up to pick up everybody and it wouldn’t start. Over and over the engine turned but no luck. I ended up calling a church who sent a mechanic over. He too was stumped. Finally, I put a gallon of gas in it and she revved right up. The silly thing had run out of gas!
We soon learned the one problem with that van: the gas gauge was unreliable. On our way back from the graduation as we neared Coldwater, Michigan the vehicle sputtered again. This time I was able to coast it into town in search of a gas station. Did you ever notice that when you need a gas station there never is one? We ran out of gas at the police station. So we walked five blocks to a gas station. And while my family enjoyed a snack at a restaurant called the Dutch Donut (which was run by a Chinese family- no kidding!) I requisitioned gas and retrieved the van.
What a curse! Somewhere between the half and the quarter mark the crazy thing would sputter. That meant that you could probably go another three or four miles, if you were lucky. We ran out of gas so many times with that van. One of our teens at Brockway had a picture of my wife and another lady pushing the van into a parking lot. At Hephzibah Children’s home I got a call while working: Naomi had run out of gas in a store parking lot. Over and over it seemed, we were always running out of gas. How embarassing!
As we consider our Christian faith, we must understand that even though the gas gauge may look good, our tank just might be empty. Just when we feel good about how life is finally getting back to normal, I must warn you that this is just the time for Satan to rear his ungly head.
You see, despite of how sanctified you may feel, we are human beings with human needs. Our fragile lives causes us to live on the ragged edge. Sometimes, the pressures and strains of the valley can cloud our vision as we strive to climb that mountain once again. But remember, the mountain clarifies our vision but progress is made in the valley.
When the disappointments in life crowd around us we can turn to the one who loves us best and cares for us most. Jesus Christ is a friend that is closer than a brother and he is always by our side. He wants to speak words of comfort to you during the tough times.
One day, God looked down on earth and saw that ninety-five per cent of the people were just living terrible lives. They were doing what they pleased, and living as they wished. The other five per cent were really striving to do God’s will and obey him. So God decided that he would send a letter to the five per cent just to encourage them. Do you know what was in the letter? ... Oh, you didn’t get one either?
In all honesty, though God has seen our need and he has provided us with a letter. And I would like us to look at just a small smidgen of what He has said for us today.
Psalm 121:5- “The Lord is your shade at your right hand.”
Despite all of the threats on you God will be your shade on your right hand. He will protect you from the hot sun during the day time, and the cold during the night. He will be near to you no matter what the problems. He will always be near to you.
On a cold, snowy morning in December 1888, two ranchers named Richard Wetherill and Charlie Mason rode along Colorado’s Mesa Verde looking for several missing steers. Suddenly, Wetherill reined his horse, and for a moment he stared speechless at the remarkable sight across a canyon. ‘Charlie,’ he said,’ look at that!’
“What had stunned Wetherill was an arching entrance to a large cave in the canyonside, a cave that enclosed a strange and silent city, its multistoried stone buildings empty of all life.” What he had discovered he later called Cliff Palace. In a scene that would be similar to our apartment complexes, the Anasazi Indians built this pueblo of over two hundred rooms. Throughout the Mesa Verde Valley, various apartment dwellings were found in the mouths of caves and on cliffsides. At once particular point in time around AD 1000, they had abandoned the cliffside dwellings and developed new homes in the entrances of caves. Here, the Anasazis could find protection from enemy tribes and safety from the forces of nature. Eventually, drought destroyed their means of survival and so they moved on elsewhere. (Reader’s Digest)
We have a cleft in the rock of Jesus Christ. We can find a place of safety within his arms. Any time we face hard trials and difficulties we know whom we have believed. Our faith and trust is built within this relationship that we have with Jesus Christ. We know that despite the tough times, Jesus will never leave us nor forsake us.
But Satan will buffet. He will hit us with discouragement and batter us with accusations. “Where is your God now” he seemingly will ask. “If God really loved you then why are you hurting so much?” His daggers of slurs on God’s grace continually wear us down and leave us numb.
It is then that we need to realize that we have the full armor of God at our disposal. We can then take our stand against the devil’s schemes. You see, our struggle is not with the surrounding circumstances but is with the powers of darkness. If we could only realize that God’s Holy Spirit empowers us with the same power that raised Christ from the dead. It is in our possession.
Perhaps you have been struggling. Maybe you’ve been beat about and battered. The only advice that I can really give right now is to anchor deep. Despite the shadow of the valley of death, we know that the Lord is our shade on our right hand. And as we step forward by faith, may the shadow of your life fall on others just as Peter’s so that they will be blessed by your faith in the cross of Jesus Christ.
Maybe your gas tank is on empty. The adventure isn’t looking for a gas station. The adventure should be climbing into the arms of our great Father in heaven.
I would like us to close with that great Fanny Crosby song “He Hideth My Soul.”
