Good Morning All,
Don’t you just dread some of those
days. You know “those days.” You get up and the alarm went off at the
wrong time, you go outside and there is a flat tire on the car or you go out
the door and a cow is staring back at you (and not supposed to). Your kids tell you that the car they drive makes
a funny sound and you see there is no oil in the engine. You know “those types of days”. Sometimes it just can get almost comical; you
almost wonder what can go wrong next.
Sometimes those days are not funny; they
are downright painful. We look out and
see a great horde of pain coming our way.
Think of the folks where the hurricane struck this past week and now
they get snow and wind; no electricity or water or a warm place to stay. I would call that a horde of trouble. Sometimes the troubles build but strike all
at once. Maybe you are caught between
two feuding relatives, and you are expected to pick sides.
Maybe your spouse is less attentive, maybe
your job is less secure, maybe your health is not as good as it used to
be. One at a time, we could deal with
them but when they come as a great horde, all at once, it is overwhelming. We can be swept away easily when the great
horde strikes.
The devil loves to use great hordes. He loves it when we feel weak and
deflated. Our resistance is down, and we
are very susceptible to doubt. We are
very susceptible to hearing the question, “did God really say?” That question that the devil asked Eve to
create doubt instead of faith to create questioning instead of trusting
God. The devil always wants you to look
out and see that great horde on the horizon.
The devil will always tell you look at all the things that could go
wrong, look at all the trouble that could happen to you.
But God quietly tells us to relax. Don’t let the worries about tomorrow get you
down. I’ll take care of tomorrow just as
I’ll take care of today. The fight with
the devil and his horde belongs to God and not to you. You can look out and worry but you don’t need
to. God’s grace will keep us safe. The ill winds of this world will still blow
but we need not fear or worry. God has
promised to be with us and to lead us through it. We will face the great horde, but we don’t
face it alone and we don’t face it on its terms. We face it in God’s care and in his comfort
and support. The battle is his and he won
it on Calvary. He declared it with the
open tomb and he delivers it to you and me through Baptisms.
We receive God’s blessing for this life
according to his mercy. The battle he
fought for us is won. We need not fear
the great horde; God has destroyed it.
We live by his grace.
Gracious
Lord, you have defeated the horde which comes to destroy us. Yet we still look on it with fear. Give us the strength to face our fears and
realize that they are not the victors but are the vanquished. They exist so that our faith may grow, and
your light may shine. In Jesus’ name we
pray, amen.
God’s
Peace,
Pastor
Bret
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