MY REFUGE— TRUSTING HIS WORD
Meanwhile, Simon Peter was still standing there warming himself. So they asked him, “You aren’t one of his disciples too, are you?” He denied it, saying, “I am not.” One of the high priest’s servants, a relative of the man whose ear Peter had cut off, challenged him, “Didn’t I see you with him in the garden?” Again Peter denied it, and at that moment a rooster began to crow. —John 18:25-27
The Jewish leaders insisted, “We have a law, and according to that law he must die, because he claimed to be the Son of God.” —John 19:7
“Do you refuse to speak to me?” Pilate said. “Don’t you realize I have power either to free you or to crucify you?” Jesus answered, “You would have no power over me if it were not given to you from above. Therefore the one who handed me over to you is guilty of a greater sin.” —John 19:10-11
You are my refuge and my shield; I have put my hope in your word. —Psalm 119:114
Just as Jesus said to Pilate— “You would have no power over me if it were not given to you from above,” so it is with us. Nobody has the power to do anything to us unless our Lord God Almighty allows it according to His purposes. All that was being done to Jesus was in accordance with God’s plan to carry out His will and this was for the benefit of mankind! It surely did not look like that at the time. And so it is with us. Difficult, as well as the good, we may not understand in the present, but our Lord God Almighty is working it out according to His plan and our good (Romans 8:28).
Even Peter’s denial was going to be worked out for the good by Jesus (Jn 21:15-19). Do we ever deny Jesus before people? Again, we need not fear people because they cannot do anything to us unless Jesus allows it. When we fail, as Peter did, our Lord desires to restore us, as He did Peter, but it also gives us an opportunity to learn things about ourselves and then not to repeat the same mistakes. Jesus is the Son of God. The Jews wanted to execute Him for this and we are safe in His hands. Again, Jesus said to Pilate, “You would have no power over me if it were not given to you from above.” And so it is with us as well.
Truly, Jesus is “my refuge and my shield; I have put my hope in your word.” I stake my eternal destiny on Jesus and His Word. What or who are you trusting your eternal destiny with? May it be God’s Son, Jesus, who said, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6) and as Luke wrote in Acts 4:12— “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.”
Thank You, Dear Father, for Your patience with me and for the salvation You have given me in Jesus, Your Son. Now, by the power of Your Holy Spirit and in the authority of Your Son, Jesus, if there are any reading who have not called on His Name, may they do so now. Yes, may it be! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZD6khv6pGkw&t=1s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XIpnW3rtRQ4&list=RDXIpnW3rtRQ4&start_radio=1