Influencers Weekly Devotional

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Embracing our Sacred Responsibility with Christ

Hurt Not Harm

“The LORD will keep you from all harm— He will watch over your life; the LORD will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore.” Psalms 121:7-8 (NIV)

I must say, when I read the above verse only this morning, I had to be honest with God and myself. I processed the scripture as I do most of the time by asking God if this scripture, and the promises contained in it, apply to me with the present mindset I have right now. The answer was, “Yes it does!” Immediately God had my attention. Like many of you, I have to battle with keeping things simple, compared to making them way too complex. It is part of my creative nature, as well my fallen nature, to be this way. But, I’m not alone with this problem, for it is also part of mankind’s built in defense system to distrust all things at face value. In the world we live in today, rarely will we trust people or things without looking at the small print of disclaimers that would warn us that things are not as trustworthy as we would hope. We have even grown to distrust our own decision making process, and I believe it has caused a new word to become vogue. It is called “anal.” No, I am not speaking of a part of the anatomy. I am talking about the Freudian theory describing a personality trait that is obsessive about something in particular, such as neatness, stubbornness, excessive research, or many other things. At the core of being “anal” is the perceived need to be in control of something in particular. I don’t know if you have come to see it as I do, but this word was used only sparingly less than 10 years ago as part of conversations. It is now heard often to describe someone, even ourselves. Why is this? I think it is because our present world and personal experiences have conditioned us to distrust the obvious, so we research every possibility for disappointment before we trust a promise being made or a contract given. But what does this have to do with the above scripture? Well, it plays into a problem we have in not taking God’s promises at face value, and as a result, we leave a whole boatload of comfort on the docks, as we sail into life’s open waters. For instance: Jesus Christ spoke of “childlike faith” as being mature faith. He said in Mark 10:15, “whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it at all." So, the first thing God challenged me with this morning with was a simple, but direct question about my childlike faith concerning the above scripture. “Do you believe the promises in this scripture to be My promises to you?” He asked me. As I processed the scripture, the promises in it, and the question spoken to my soul, I knew that I had to be completely honest with God by answering Him as truthfully as I knew how. This was our conversation: “Lord, I want to believe these promises, and to claim them as coming from You to me. But, I have so many experiences in life that challenge me in taking all of them at face value,” I confessed. He answered, “What is it in My promises to you that causes you to doubt? Do you believe I am watching over you even now? Do you believe I will watch over you wherever you are both now and in the future?” I noticed He left out the other question, and I knew He was getting to the very thing that caused me to doubt. I answered: “Yes Lord. I truly believe you are watching over me now and into the future. These promises I do believe, and trust. But what I am confused about is Your promise to keep me from all harm. I’m old enough to look back and see a lot of harm in my life, with injuries that kept me from a professional baseball career, loss of loved ones, being cheated and betrayed by someone I trusted, being fired from my job because of the evil intentions of some people and the challenging health issues of the last 13 years. I have trusted You, and I know You have watched over me. But was I really kept from harm?” There was silence for a while. It was in this silence I thought back to the times and events that I mentioned as examples. I relived both the before, during and after of these experiences, and I saw that these difficult periods became a change in my life direction. Then I heard the Lord say to my heart: “You were hurt during these times. That is obvious. But were you harmed?” “What is the difference?” I asked. “Therein lies your problem as to why you are having difficulty having a childlike faith in receiving this as a promise to you.” The Lord continued, “Have you not come to see how these hurts did not harm you, but actually became a blessing to you? Have you not come to understand that My other promise to you, that in all things I would be working for good in your life, also applies to your hurts and disappointments? My child, look back over your life and see how I’ve used those hurts to redirect your life, to cause you to become the man you are today. Were you not ultimately blessed? Were you not broken, but also were you not reformed by Me into a better man? Were you not ultimately given the desires of your heart, as I broke a heart of stone and gave you one after My own heart?” I thought on this last question and have come to see that through the process of breaking and remaking God created in me a new life, as well as a new heart for the next stage of life to which He would take me. I can see that I would not have been able to do any of the things that would become some of my best contributions for His purposes without the changed life He created in me. Also, in changing me He gave me a life I could have never attained for myself and joys that have the scent of heaven on them. The truth is: His challenging questions allowed a hidden doubt in my life to make its way to the surface, to be sent packing. I could really see for myself that God did allow hurts for a purpose hidden from my sight at the time. But He never permitted harm. I could then receive His promise to me that he will not allow harm to come in my life. This is true for you, as well. But will you take this promise at face value? Do you understand that being hurt and being harmed is not the same? I know many of you have seen a wonderful movie shown at this time of year, called It’s a Wonderful Life. The story line is about a man named George Bailey. George is a good father, husband, friend and citizen, but he had lived with disappointments most of his life. He had endured them, even though, below the surface of his life there was a feeling of self-pity and disappointment with his life. Then there came the biggest challenge to him in his life. His reputation as a man of integrity, the one thing he had always kept intact, was now about to be taken from him. By no fault of his own, he feared he would be indicted, imprisoned and made bankrupt. In his despair , he planned to take his own life, and it was at this point, the angel Clarence was dispatched to George’s help. See the movie for yourself, and one thing you will see is that George had no idea how his personal disappointments kept him in a place in life that would also bless and save many other lives. In fact, it was his life that kept an evil culture from invading his town, causing it to become a cesspool of debauchery. At the end, George was able to see the truth of how his life had blessed so many people, even though he didn’t know it at the time. He could not have known, for his focus was on his disappointments rather than his blessings. He was hurt. However, he was never harmed, and the perceived limitations given to him actually made him into a great man. Hollywood got it right with this movie, for it is very much like the life of God's Champion. Men, do yourselves a favor. Spend some time in the above verse and allow God’s promises to speak to your heart. Allow Him to assure you if you are being challenged right now. Be honest with Him if you have some doubts about any of His promises to you. He wants you to take His word and promises at face value. But you must have a childlike faith to fully embrace those promises. This is a time that being childlike is a good thing. So go ahead and do it. God gave us His child as a ransom, and as a security for backing up every promise He has made to His family. We celebrate His birthday by also remembering the mission of the Christ Child, along with His birth. Now, let’s put our faith in Him, for He promises us He will never disappoint us. It's as simple as that. Merry Christmas, men. Let's make sure it is all about Him. Rocky CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD A COPY OF THIS DEVOTIONAL