Our Help Is in the Name of the Lord

 

Psalm 124:1-7

 

November 15, 2022

 

Our Help Is in the Name of the Lord

A Song of Ascents. Of David.

If it had not been the Lord who was on our side—let Israel now say— if it had not been the Lord who was on our side when people rose up against us,  then they would have swallowed us up alive,
when their anger was kindled against us; then the flood would have swept us away, the torrent would have gone over us; then over us would have gone the raging waters.

 

^\Blessed be the Lord, who has not given us as prey to their teeth!
We have escaped like a bird from the snare of the fowlers;
the snare is broken, and we have escaped!

 

Jan and I grew up in Corpus Christi, Texas, and I was blessed to have parents that had a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, and taught us the things of God, to the best they knew how.  But many of my friends did not have that and came to know God personally, most after they were married.  And I and them can say if it had not been for the Lord who loves us and sent people into our lives to speak truth, in a world that often now does not like truth.

 

The world has a lot to offer a young kid who wants to be somebody that others will look up to, but it always has a price tag that more than anyone who knew the truth, would never agree to pay.  Let me share about a Vice President over procurement in the Dallas area I took to lunch and I asked him to bring three or four of the men who worked under him who did not get lunch invitations.  After some small talk, I asked him what advice he would give to the young men with us regarding their careers.  I had never done this with a man I did not know, and I understood later it was all God’s doing.  He looked at his employees and said men, many of you are at work before I get there and are there after I leave, You not impressing me.  I did the same thing to get this job, and I lost my wife and two sons.  They are now in their late twenties and will have nothing to do with me.  I’ve remarried to a younger lady and we have a four-year-old, at 54, I come home often wanting to rest, but the little guys want to play ball, so we play ball. I resolved to leave when I had my work done to spend time with my wife and child, and it matters not if that 2:00 p.m. and you are stupid if you do not do the same.  I thank him for sharing and I feel those young men were also grateful.  Yes, the price tag of the world is very high, and this VP made it clear he had no clue of the price he was going to pay.

 

If you understood how much God loved you and wanted you to live a life of peace and joy, you and I would count the cost before going after the gods of this world.  Jeremiah 29:11 gives us this truth; “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.”  The Christian life is impossible to live only Jesus Christ has lived it and He wants to live it in and through you.  But it requires you to abide in Him.  Jesus made that very clear in John 15:4, Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me.

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice