BBD 03.30.15 After the Crash (Classic)
Posted by: theburningbushdevotional <theburningbushdevotional@...>
Please
pray for Justin Lewis who is battling cancer. He is a 35-year-old Christian with
a wife and four children. Unless God intervenes there is little hope for him. He has recently been at MD
Anderson in Houston for about ten days with super chemo and needs to go back soon
for another super chemo treatment. They found new places of cancer on his last
scan. He is very weak and needs to gain some weight and strength prior to the next
treatment. Thank you for all of your prayers for Justin and his wife and four
children!!
If for
some reason you do not receive your email version of the devotional please
check the Burning Bush website at http://www.theburningbush.net for the “Devotional of the Day” and read the devotional there.
The Burning
Bush Devotional
Classic
from 2007
03.30.15
After the
Crash
God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.
Therefore we will not fear, even though the earth be removed, and though the
mountains be carried into the midst of the sea; though its waters roar and be
troubled, though the mountains shake with its swelling. Selah. - Psalm 46:1-3
NKJV.
Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I
will be exalted in the earth! The LORD of hosts is with us; The God of Jacob is
our refuge. Selah. - Psalm 46:10-11 NKJV.
Yesterday, there were a few crashes in Meadville,
Pennsylvania when a three foot wide, 1,500-pound wrecking ball somehow came
loose from a crane and rolled downhill. At least a dozen vehicles were damaged,
and three people injured by the runaway ball. The monster ball finally stopped
with one final horrendous crash into the back of a car stopped at an
intersection.
Crash, as in a wrecking ball crash is defined as: “to break violently and noisily.” A
wrecking ball crash is definitely bad news when it is a runaway wrecking ball.
Crash, as in a computer crash, is also bad news as defined by one dictionary: “to suffer a sudden major failure usually with attendant loss of data.” Crashes are nearly always bad news whether it is a
wrecking ball, a car crash, a computer crash or even worse a personal crash.
Some of us know what it is like to have our world come crashing in on us.
How do you recover from a crash? When a car has been
crashed, it is usually taken to an auto body shop for repairs. When a computer
has crashed, we take it to a computer technician to be repaired. But what do we
do when our lives come crashing down?
Often the tendency for many is to turn away from God
during the bad times. They think, “God has
forgotten about me, so I’m forgetting about Him.” This is a mistake because those are the times when you
need God more than ever. It may appear at times that God has left the building
never to return, but He is ever present.
What happens if we turn away from God when our world
comes crashing in upon us? Of course, you compound the situation if you turn
away from God, because He will allow the natural consequences of your actions
to occur. He will withdraw His protection, withdraw His wisdom, and withdraw
His wisdom from your life. You will begin that downward spiral with things in
your life tending to fall apart everywhere you turn, everywhere you look. If
you turn away from God, everything good in your life will begin to be replaced
with all things bad; with everything deteriorating. That is what happens when
you leave God out of your life, nothing good.
Job of the Old Testament could have given up on God, and
most would have given the terrible circumstances of his life. Job, however,
remained faithful to God. Job’s life had come crashing down to the lowest of
lows. Job remained faithful and God raised Him up. Shadrach, Meshach, and
Abednego refused to worship the golden image and King Nebuchadnezzar had them
thrown into the burning fiery furnace. Just before they were thrown into the
furnace, they said this to the king: “…our God whom
we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will
deliver us from your hand, O king. But if not, let it be known to you, O king,
that we do not serve your gods, nor will we worship the gold image which you
have set up (Daniel 3:17-18).” The Son of
God walked in the midst of the furnace with them and saved them from certain
death.
The response of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego is the
response that we need to have when our world comes crashing in upon us. That
response is that we will serve God, seek God, worship God, and be faithful to
God no matter what may happen in our lives. Where do you take your life when it
crashes? You take it to the Master, the Creator - you take your life to God and
place yourself in His hands. Remember, God is still God no matter what may
happen in your life, and He is your “refuge and
strength.”
Copyright © 2007-2015. Ed Wrather.
The Burning Bush website has been online since January 31, 1998. On June 8,
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Wrather began writing devotionals in the early 1990s. The distribution of these
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Prayer Requests: Please pray for
an end to the racial hatred in the USA and that it will be replaced with peace
and love. Please also pray for Shane Hall who is a young pastor who has cancer
and for all those afflicted with this terrible disease. My sister, Reta’s
surgery for removal of kidney and cancerous tumor went better than expected.
She will now have targeted chemo by pill or injection for nodules in her lungs.
Many prayer needs are posted at the Burning Bush website on the Prayer Request
page. You can also post your prayer requests there (Of course, I am always in
need of prayer - please pray for me.).
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