If I have learned anything over the last almost 74 years, it can probably be reduced to two things. One, life can change in a moment. Two, life can end in a moment. Knowing those two things is a foundation preparation truth for living. We must be prepared for change.
Last year my robust, walk-3-miles-a-day life changed in the span of a couple weeks. One minute I gave scarcely a care to how I felt. In the next moment I could barely walk ¼ mile at a time and my body was fatigued, stiff and in pain constantly. Then because that diagnosis was mismanaged over the next nine months, I developed another auto-immune disease, this one with the potential of blindness or an aneurism that can end life. Then, if you throw in 2020 … well, truly, life is both unpredictable and fragile.
Almost 50 years ago I learned another bit of wisdom, a truth that makes what I just wrote not all that important. God called my name and I answered. When that happened, everything changed. I learned to live (and am still learning to live) in the promises of God. One vitally important one is found in Romans 14. “If we live, we live for the Lord; and if we die, we die for the Lord. Therefore, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord.” [vs8 HCSB]
Oh, beloved, what a promise! We belong to the LORD!
This LORD we belong to is Almighty Father, Savior, King of Kings and LORD of Lords. He is our Protector, our Provider, our Refuge and Stronghold. He is Holy, All-Knowing, Loving, All-Powerful, and Everywhere Present. He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. He is our Good Shepherd, our Gentle Shepherd. He is the Holy Spirit of God who has taken up eternal dwelling within us. He is the Great I AM, our Healer and Deliverer. He is Interceding for us right now!
Jesus promised us that “No one will snatch [you] out of My hand. My Father, who has given [you] to Me, is greater than all. No one is able to snatch [you] out of the Father’s hand.” [John 10:28-29 HCSB]
So, whether we live or die, we are safely in His Hands! Rejoice!
