KEEPING MY EYES ON THE ONE WHO IS MY REFUGE AND DEPENDENCY

KEEPING MY EYES ON THE ONE WHO IS MY REFUGE AND DEPENDENCY

You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives. —Genesis 50:20

Keep me safe, my God, for in you I take refuge.  I say to the Lord, “You are my Lord; apart from you I have no good thing.” —Psalms 16:1-2

I keep my eyes always on the Lord.  With him at my right hand, I will not be shaken. —Psalm 16:8

            People do such evil things to other people.  There are those who intend to harm others, but God can take that very situation of one doing harm to another and He can turn it around to bring good out of it.

            Joseph is the example of this when his brothers sold him into slavery.  What pain!  What betrayal!  And yet this also pointed forward to the unfathomable pain and betrayal Jesus went through.  In Joseph’s situation, God positioned him to save many people from starvation, including his whole extended family.  In the case of Jesus our Lord, our Father positioned Him so that “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be save” (Romans 10:13).

            Let us have the mindset of Joseph— “Keep me safe, my God, for in you I take refuge.  I say to the Lord, “You are my Lord; apart from you I have no good thing.”  Joseph surely took refuge in our Lord and trusted Him in the most difficult of situations.  He also knew it was God who worked through him and that he could do nothing in his own strength —“You are my Lord; apart from you I have no good thing.”  We also need to keep this in mind as Jesus said, “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15:5).

            So “let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith” (Hebrews 12:1-2).  As we do so we will never be shaken because “we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, for our “God is a consuming fire” (Hebrews 12:28-29).  So let us trust Him even in the most difficult of situations.  He is working in those to accomplish His will as He is also working in the good times to do so as well.  Yes, Dear Father, may I trust and depend on You in all situations by the power of Your Holy Spirit and in the authority of Your Son Jesus.  May it be so! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BLDEt9KP2O0