Trusting in God’s plan
Exodus 19:4 “You yourselves have seen how I carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself.”
Perhaps you have seen the Christian poem entitled “Footprints” which is often part of a picture or poster. The poem describes 2 sets and sometimes only 1 set of footprints walking across a sandy beach. The poem describes how when there was only 1 set of footprints it was God carrying the person.
There are many comforting and reassuring pictures which God employs in the Bible to reassure us that in every circumstance of life he is right beside us and will support us and help us through even seemingly difficult situations.
Our verse for this week pictures a mother eagle swooping under her eaglet and letting her young one rest securely on her wings. What a beautiful picture of God swooping in to protect, rescue or support us in time of trouble.
In the midst of that beautiful, reassuring image let’s not lose sight of the last part of our verse “brought you to myself”. God doesn’t rescue us so we can go back to our own devices or return to our sinful ways. He protects and cares for us so we can walk with him in this life and live with him forever in heaven.
Think for a moment of times in your life where you have actually been able to see this happen. Was it where God used his angels to protect you from harm or rescue you from danger? Did God bring you to himself through the loving or caring actions of others who saw you in a difficult situation and stepped in or reached out to help you realizing what you might be headed toward.
There are certainly times where we can see that such a rescue happened. Stop and think that there are many more times where God’s almighty power turned danger away from you and you never knew you were in trouble.
Knowing that God is always there ready to help us or dispatch his angels to help us doesn’t mean that we live our lives with reckless abandon. It does however give us a confidence and peace knowing that we don’t walk alone and we aren’t living unprotected.
There is something else we should remember in this context. Just because we have this wonderful reassurance of God’s love and care for us does not mean that we will never face pain or sorrow or tragedy in this life. Some people have a mistaken notion that Christians will be completely isolated or shielded from all difficulty. At times God allows difficult things to come into our lives for the very purpose of allowing us to see his love and care for us. Sometimes those trials or troubles are allowed to affect us so we can focus on God when we have been focused on ourselves or other things in this world.
The beloved words of Romans 8:28 “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” help us understand that whether he keeps trouble away or allows it to affect us, God has a greater purpose in mind. “Good” is not necessarily according to our terms or thinking, but in the long run God will use it for a good purpose either in our life or the lives of others.
Trust in the Lord and his care and protection while you also have the full assurance of his always loving purpose!