Daily Devotional - August 17, 2020

Good afternoon, here we are, start of another week and it looks like a beautiful start to the week and looking at the days ahead, a lot of sunshine and that's a great thing.

Appreciate the vitamin D that we get naturally. Speaking of that, I hope you get outside and soak up some of that sunshine during these summer months.

We really do need that. It can be quite refreshing to us, but anyway, regardless,

I hope you're having a good day and it's gotten off to a good start, which bodes well for a good week.

So I want us to think today a little bit about security. There's an awful lot that's gone on in the last several months to kind of undermine our sense of security, hasn't there?

First of all, there's this virus and we're told very early on in the whole thing that, man, you better watch out.

It's going to kill millions of people in our country. And so everybody is just unnerved and their sense of security regarding their health has been just kind of pulled out right out from under the rug, right out from under them,

I guess I should say. But then anyway, so you got the virus thing and then of course the economy gets shut down.

A lot of people are impacted by that with their jobs and therefore there's a sense of security that gets cut from our work.

How about our sense of security related to what's going on politically in our world today, in our nation today?

My goodness, well, you know, I'm trying to think how many election cycles I've been through and seen a lot and there's been an awful lot of conflict through the years come election time and it seems like every four years we're told this election is the most important election of your lifetime, of the history of our nation and so on and so forth.

And those of us who are older, we've lived through all of that. But that being said, you've got to admit if you're 60 years old or older, you have to admit that there is a great deal more acrimony and hostility and even uncertainty that's being promulgated regarding this election.

So there's a bunch of stuff that is serving to undermine our sense of security.

So where do you get yours? What do you look for for security? A lot of people are looking to wealth.

They're watching the stock market very carefully and excited to see that it's close to where it was before the whole pandemic hit and the lockdown and so forth.

But if that's where your security lies, you're in trouble because of what the

Bible tells us. Psalm 49 verses 7 to 9 say this, it says, Truly no man can ransom another or give to God the price of his life.

For the ransom of their life is costly and can never suffice, that he should live on forever and never see the pit.

Your wealth isn't going to keep you out of the pit. Other people look for the government to give them security, whether it's through financial support or whatever.

But Psalm 146 tells us this, put not your trust in princes and a son of man in whom there is no salvation.

When his breath departs, he returns to the earth. On that very day, his plans perish.

Now, this of course was written in a time of monarchies and so forth. In our day, it's like, okay, so suppose your presidential candidate wins in November.

Well, you know, it's temporary, right? You got four years. And then there's a very good chance that the opposing party is going to win the next election.

And then what? Then where is your security? It better not be in the government. Some people find their sense of security in just force, physical strength, brute power, might.

Like Teddy Roosevelt said, speak softly, but carry a big stick.

You got to have that stick. And other presidents and military leaders have said, you know, the key to national security is a strong defense.

And there certainly is some truth to that. But if that's where our security lies, again, we're in trouble.

Because Psalm 33, verses 16 and 17 says, the king is not saved by his great army.

A warrior is not delivered by his great strength. The war horse is a false hope for salvation.

And by its great might, it cannot rescue. So I mean, if you do any, or any student of history, you know that mighty powerful nations rise and then they fall.

And so our security cannot rest in mere power, brute force, physical strength.

Well, how about being in the majority? Being part of the crowd? I mean, you're in a crowd, you're in the crowd.

You're in the majority of people. Surely there's safety there, right? Well, what did

Jesus say? Matthew 7. He says, enter by the narrow gate.

For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction. And those who enter it, enter by it are many.

Jesus is saying the vast majority of the people, they're going through that wide gate that is just leading to destruction.

He goes on to say the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life. And those who find it are few.

Where do you look for security? Eugene Peterson wrote this.

He said, we do not find our security by joining a strong and successful group, but by being servants to a strong and competent savior.

Did you catch that? We do not find a security by joining a strong and successful group.

As tempting as that is to think that's where security lies, we find our security by being servants to a strong and competent savior.

This is why Paul wrote what he did in Romans chapter 8. He asks this question.

What shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? Who shall bring anything to the charge of God's elect?

It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn?

Christ Jesus is the one who died. More than that, who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.

If you're a servant of a strong and competent savior, there is your security. He goes on,

Paul does, to ask, who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or the sword,

COVID, Antifa, corrupt elections?

What shall separate us? Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? No, he says, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.

For I am sure, Paul goes on to say, that neither death nor life nor angels nor rulers nor things present nor things to come nor powers nor height nor depth nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus, our

Lord. So what's undermining your sense of security today?

What is it? Think about it. Could it be if your sense of security is threatened and you feel like it's gone, that you're looking in the wrong place?

Are you a servant of the Lord Jesus Christ? Are you a follower of his? Oh, listen, if you are, you're secure in him.

Nothing can separate you from his love. Find encouragement and rest and a strong sense of security in him.

Let's pray and ask God to give us that today. So our Father and our God, we do thank you today for the security that is ours in Christ Jesus.

We're grateful for your grace that keeps and holds and maintains and sustains your people.

With all that is going on in our world around us and all that would threaten our sense of security, give us the confidence, the rest, the trust in you, in your power, in your might, and in the security that is ours in Christ Jesus.

This we pray in Jesus' name. Amen. All right. We'll have a good rest of your

Monday. Get the week off to a good start. Looking forward to meeting with you every day at this same time and place.

If you can make it and trust that these devotionals are a blessing to you and an encouragement to you.