What a beautiful weekend! And what a great start to the week! By Friday the temps will take a dip though. Look at the temperatures forecasted for the next week beginning today:
57 – 57 – 44 – 56 – 40 – 46 – 48 – 52
I don’t know about you but that seems to the pattern of life doesn’t it? Up and down, highs and lows, good times followed by some harder times. It is a good reminder to me that God has never promised an easy life. Our life will be marked by times when things seem to be going well and then a mild “cold front” moves in and we experience a little hiccup in life, a minor setback. It could be that a huge “cold front” moves in and the temperature plummets drastically. Have you ever just been going along with everything seeming to be hunky-dory and then…BAM! It seems like the storm of all storms hits. We may feel lost and even hopeless.
It is in those times when the angel’s words to the shepherds in the fields surrounding Bethlehem ring true the most. “Do not be afraid!” We are to trust in the Lord but sometimes we are trusting for the wrong things. We are trusting in him to take care of our financial needs…our health needs…our relational needs. Know that God will meet your needs but on that night in Bethlehem God took care of your greatest need – the forgiveness of sin once and for all so that you might have eternal life in Heaven where it will always be perfect weather. No matter what earthly needs the Lord takes care of here on earth, there will always be another need…another problem…another heartbreak. We are not afraid because we know that these issues are only temporal. God has taken care of the biggie!
Don’t be afraid! Psalm 23 says the Shepherd will lead you to greener pastures and still water but you will walk in difficult places at times (the valley of the shadow of death). Don’t fear for he goes with you…his rod and his staff comfort you. He doesn’t say I will meet you over there…HE IS WITH YOU! That’s good news! Jesus promised to be with us when he gave us the difficult task of the Great Commission. He knew it wasn’t going to be easy.
Some of you are in a tough season. Maybe you are caught in the middle of a couple of fronts. When those fronts meet up we often have great storms. Yet, even the most severe storms pass and the sun comes out again. And it will be so with life. But the Son will shine on us…do not be afraid…He is with you.
P.R.
