May 17, 2000
Reading
“You hem me in –
behind and before; you have laid your hand upon me” (5)
How faithful God is to His word and how very much He loves us. He promised to never leave us or forsake us, He does not give us a book of rules and then turn us loose hoping that we have learned our lessons well.
Jesus is before us, He is the Good Shepherd and as such “He goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him,” John 10:4. Whatever we are asked to encounter in the future we can be sure that our Shepherd encounters it first. The wolves and lions may prowl around His sheep but, just as David of ancient times, He slays them before they can wreak havoc among His sheep. The enemy did his worst but our Shepherd won the victory. With His staff, the cross, He defeated the enemy and struck him a fatal blow. Thank God our Shepherd is in front.
Jesus is behind us, He it is who represents us to His Father. No matter the sins we committed before coming to Christ, no matter that we were born sinners and that sin held us in its grasp, for our Savior died and cast our past into the pit of hell. Our sins are not merely covered up, they are not cleansed, they were laid on Christ and are no more! We have enemies who try to convince us otherwise, who attempt to get at us through the back door. Oh no, Satan, you can’t pull that one on us because our sins are non-existent. God took care of them. Satan will attempt to remind you of your sins by recreating them in your mind. They are illusions for they no longer exist. God did not say He would forget our sins but rather that He would remember them no more! To forget them implies they are still there – they are not. To forget, in human understanding, is a weakness, but to remember no more is an act of the Divine Will. Because of Jesus, when God looks at us, He does not see our sin, He sees the righteousness of His Son because these are the garments with which we have been clothed.
Jesus is with us, He is our constant Companion. “Surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age,” Matthew 28:20. In the Person of the Holy Spirit He indwells us and He cannot be any closer than that.
Look to the left, He is there. Check your right hand and you will find Him there also. “If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast. If I say, ‘Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me, even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like day, for darkness is as light to you,” Psalm 139:8-12.
No matter what it is we encounter, even if it seems as if the light has been extinguished and all is dark and there is no hope, even there our Protector will be found. He is Pure Light and darkness has no part in Him. When we waiver in our faith or yield to the pressures of the ungodly world around us, stop and look, look carefully and you will see Him there. In front of you, behind you, to the right, to the left, above you and beneath you, there is not a place you can look and not find Him there. Be still and meditate for He is within you. The protective work of our Savior is flawless. As water encompasses the hull of a boat so does our Lord surround us. Take heart depressed Christian, for He is with you. You who are living a backslidden life, reach out and you will grasp the hand of Jesus. You say, “I don’t know which way to turn?” It doesn’t matter, just reach out, for whichever direction you are facing, you will find Him there.