Good Morning Everyone,
Our theme for this month: “Trusting God”
Our Bible verse for today: “The one who lives under the protection of the Most High dwells in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say to the Lord, “My refuge and my fortress, My God, in whom I trust.” Psalm 91:1-2 (HCSB)
Our thought for today: “God protects us.”
As you’re reading this I’m preparing to get on an airplane to fly from Knoxville, TN to Atlanta, GA. Then I’ll take another to fly from Atlanta to Lima, Peru. Then a third will take me from Lima to Cusco. While in the city of Cusco I’ll be riding in taxis driven by Kamikaze drivers in a city with crazy traffic schemes and governed by traffic laws that nobody obeys anyway. After a few days I’ll take another plane down into the Amazon basin where I will get in a 50 foot canoe for two days of travel on the river up into the rainforest. There will be alligators, piranhas, snakes, and malaria bearing mosquitoes. After a few days of that we’ll reverse the process and head home.
Of course I’ll take appropriate precautions and use common sense. If the pilot arrives for the flight and is noticeably drunk I won’t get on the plane unless they replace the pilot. I’ll try to select taxi drivers who don’t appear to have a death wish either for themselves or for me. And I will take my malaria pills.
But am I really putting my trust in sober pilots, save drivers, and little white pills? I’m foolish if I am. There are too many variables in play there. No, my trust is in the Lord who is sovereign over airline pilots, taxi drivers, and mosquitoes – and over every other event in my life as well. My God is the One who knew me before I was formed in the womb; He is the One who numbered all my days before a single one began; and He is the All-knowing, Always-present, and All-powerful God of the universe. While it is up to me to use common sense and to take appropriate precautions, ultimately He is the One in control of it all.
That’s true in your life too. The next two weeks in your life may look a little different then what I’m looking forward to, but yours will also be filled with risks and dangers – some of them seen and known to you, but many of them not. Who or what are you putting your trust in? I encourage you do you part – be smart and be safe – but then turn it over to the only One who is really in control anyway.
God Bless,
Pastor Jim
Oak Hill Baptist Church 