“Come to Me,
all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take
My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in
heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” Matthew 11:28–29
The Lord does not want you
to simply claim His promises of protection found in Psalm 91. He wants you to
come close to Him. Running to Him and coming under His feathers speak of
closeness. It’s not about how many times you have recited Psalm 91; it’s about
having an intimate relationship with Him. As a child, if it was thundering at
night and I was afraid, I would run into my parents’ room, jump into their bed,
and hide in my mother’s arms. After a while, I would fall into a deep sleep
even if the storm was still raging outside. You see, you don’t have to learn
the seven steps of overcoming fear. Having the presence of a loving parent
right with you is enough to drive out fear. Our Lord Jesus who loves you wants
you to come close to Him and to take shelter in His love. Will you do that
today?
I heard the story of a
farmer whose farmhouse got burned down. As he walked around the smoldering
wreckage, he saw the burned carcasses of his chickens. He happened to move the
blackened body of one of the hens with his foot, and to his astonishment,
little chicks came running out from under the body. What happened? They had
taken refuge under the wings of their mother, who had given her life to save
her little ones.
That’s a picture of what
our Lord Jesus did when He took upon His own body the full punishment for our
sins. The fire of God’s judgment fell, not upon the scribes and Pharisees who
had rejected the Messiah, and not upon the Roman soldiers who nailed Him to the
cross, but upon His own beloved Son—for the nation of Israel, for the Gentile
nations, for you, for me, so that whosoever believes in Him would be saved.
But here’s something I want you to see: when Jesus was offered on the cross, He absorbed the judgment of God in His own body, and, as the sacrifice, He was greater than the fires of judgment. The Offering was greater than the judgment because the Offering was not consumed. On that cross, our Lord declared, “It is finished!” before He gave up His Spirit (John 19:30). The Offering remained after all of God’s judgment was exhausted. Hallelujah! That is why we can come boldly to His throne of grace today! (Article & Picture; courtesy of Joseph Prince Ministries used with kind permission).
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