Faith & Reflection
The Bible contains many promises from God that He will take care of His people; those who believe in and follow Him.
My favorite is found in Isaiah 43:1ff. It says, “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by your name; You are Mine. 2. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; And through the rivers, they shall not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned, Nor shall the flame scorch you. For I am the LORD your God, The Holy One of Israel, your Savior.”
Two others that come to mind are, “I will never leave you nor forsake you”, and “I am with you until the end of the world” (Hebrews 13:5 and Matthew 28:20 respectively).
What the Bible does not contain is any promise that the journey will be easy or free of hardship. Quite the contrary! Jesus taught in Matthew 7:14 that, “… the gate to life is small, and the road is narrow, and only a few ever find it.”
Peter explained that God runs a pretty tight ship saying, “discipline begins at the house of God” (1 Peter 4:17). Nevertheless, people of faith continue to trust God to get them through.
There is a story about a train traveling through the night in a violent storm. The lightning flashes were frequent and blinding, the rain hitting the windows was deafening and the strong wind gusts rocked the train from side to side. When the lightning flashed and lit up the darkness, the passengers could see that the water was rising dramatically alongside of the tracks. At other times they couldn’t see anything but the dark abyss as they passed over high trestles through mountains. The passengers were all terrified! Several of them however, noted that through all the noise, lightning and wind, one of the passengers, a little boy, seemed to be entirely relaxed and unruffled.
They had no idea how he could remain so calm during all this excitement. Finally, one passenger asked him, “How is that you can be so calm when all the rest of us are so worried about what might happen tonight?” The little fellow just smiled and said, “I know everything will be fine. My father is the engineer.”
The road of life is rough and fearful; especially some days – but if the Heavenly Father is at the wheel, the engineer as it were, then it does not matter how rough the road or tough the weather…knowing He is in charge makes all the difference.
God has not promised believers a smooth journey; just a safe arrival.
— Pastor Ross Helgeton is senior pastor at Erskine Evangelical Free Church