From the Pulpit

A pastor was on a long flight. The first warning of the approaching problems came when the sign flashed on:  Fasten Your Seat Belts. Then a calm voice said, "We will not be serving the beverages at this time as we are expecting a little turbulence.  Please be sure your seat belt is fastened."

As the pastor looked around the aircraft, it was obvious that many of the passengers were becoming apprehensive.  Later, the passengers heard: "We are sorry that we are unable to serve the meal at this time.  The turbulence is still ahead of us."

Then the storm broke.  The ominous cracks of thunder could be heard above the roar of the engines.  Lightning lit up the darkening skies, and within moments the huge plane was like a cork tossed around on a celestial ocean.  One moment the airplane was lifted on terrific currents of air; the next, it dropped as if were about to crash.

 The pastor shared the fear of those around him.  He said, "As I looked around the plane, I could see that nearly all the passengers were alarmed.  The future seemed ominous and many were wondering if they would make it through the storm.  Then I saw a little girl. . .”I’ll finish the story in a moment.  Are you in need of confidence in your storm?  Come back to 1000 B.C. for a word from God to David that is meant for you today.  From the mouth of Abigail:  "Even though someone is pursuing you to take your life, the life of my master will be bound securely in the bundle of the living by the LORD your God.  But the lives of your enemies he will hurl away as from the pocket of a sling” (1 Samuel 25:29).

God's promise to you, Jesus-lover and follower, is four-fold:

 1) What is pursuing you?  What is harassing or persecuting, or hunting you down?  Whether it be a person, fear, lack, or the devil himself seeking to mess with you:  if God is for us, who can be against us?  They can be, but they don't matter if God is for us!

2) Your life is bound securely in the bundle of the living by the LORD!   The Hebrew word for "bound" is usually negative as in "confined, shut up, cramped, and pressed hard" like an advancing enemy army. But who's the One who is holding you tightly, binding you up securely, protecting you, pressing you hard against Himself?   What are you closed up in?  His bundle (purse, bag, treasure pouch)!!

 3) You are not suffocated there.  It's the bundle of the living:  fresh, green, where you are revived and gain strength to be strong in order to give life to others!

 4) And your pursuers?  No purse for them, but rather like a loose stone, the One who fights your battles, hurls them away from His presence and yours!  Gone.  Defeated.

 "My sheep listen to my voice; I know them . . . no one can snatch them out of my hand.  My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father's hand”  (John 10:27-29).  Held tightly next to God's heart!

"Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.  For you died and your life is now hidden with Christ in God" (Colossians 3:2).  Hidden in God's pouch!

“Apparently the storm meant nothing to the little girl.  She had tucked her feet beneath her; she was reading a book, and everything within her small world was calm and orderly.  Sometimes she closed her eyes, then she would read again; then she would straighten her legs.  But worry and fear were not in her world.  When the plane was being buffeted, when it lurched this way and that, as it rose and fell with frightening severity, when all the adults were scared to death, this child was completely composed and unafraid."

The minister could hardly believe his eyes.  When the plane finally reached its destination and all the passengers hurried to disembark, the pastor lingered to speak to the girl.  Having commented about the storm and behavior of the plane, he asked why she had not been afraid.

 The child replied, "Because my Daddy's the pilot, and he's taking me home."

"There is no God like the God of Jeshurun, who rides on the heavens to help you and on the clouds in His majesty.  The eternal God is your refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms" (Deuteronomy 33:26,27).

You've got a good, strong Daddy!

Paul W. Kummer has been pastor of Grace Lutheran Church in Destin for 20 years and can be reached at pastorpaul@gracedestin.com.