Daily Bread

Passing Through the Notch

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Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I fear no evil; for you are with me; your rod and your staff— they comfort me Psalm 23:4 NRSV

Coming home from work I used to drive through a notch

KIMG0848in the hills called Sugar Hollow. The interesting thing about the place was that in late afternoon the angle of the surrounding hills blocked out most of the sun when it was low on the horizon. You would drive out of bright sunshine into a sort of twilight for a few miles. Then after a few long minutes suddenly the shadows lifted and the sun came shone again as you passed through to the other side.

That passing through may be what you are experiencing today. Maybe everything seemed pretty normal in your life till unexpectedly the boss called you into the office or the doctor called about those test results. The bright sunshine of your day in a moment changed to a shadowy path. If you are at all like me it feels at those moments that even the most familiar of lP1020256and-marks seem strangely different in darkness. That is the time to remind ourselves to hang on and keep going. We do not need to panic. Jesus has promised to be with us always. Whatever deep river, hot fire or dark valley that lies ahead is temporary. Just past the shadows of the notch we are passing through, His road will lead us into sunshine and all the way home!

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Jesus in the Furnace

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Are you facing testing and trials and it feels like Jesus is nowhere to be seen? You are not alone. Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego were facing the threat of being thrown into a furnace so hot that it burned up their guards. When they boldly were telling the king they were willing to be thrown in rather than worship a statue they had no idea that a miracle was about to happen.

But as the furnace door opened some amazing things began to happen. First…they didn’t get burned up! Yay team! Secondly the ropes tying their hands and feet burned off and they started walking around inside the furnace…awesome! But God saved the biggest and best for last…they got to see Jesus!

Yes difficulties and trials loom on our horizon but God has wonderful news for us. When we fall down into our personal flaming furnace we get to meet Jesus there in the fire!

“Look!” he answered, “I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire; and they are not hurt, and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God.”
Daniel 3:25 NKJV
https://bible.com/bible/114/dan.3.25.NKJV

Our Future Hope

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That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying, Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses Matthew 8:17 KJV

Did you know that God is so intimately concerned with our physical needs that He has even counted the number of hairs on our head? We have a great hope that whether in this life or in the next; God will heal every disease, restore all that is broken and renew our youth like the eagles! Whether sitting in a wheel chair in a nursing home or confined to a bed with a tracheotomy tube in order to breathe, Jesus offers the hope of complete and entire healing as one part of His promise of eternal life. That promise may be overlooked or forgotten by those in perfect health, but God does not forget. The same Jesus who was moved with compassion for lepers, the blind and the lame has promised to wipe every tear from our eyes. He not only has compassion for our aches, pains and disabilities but the Bible tells us that He took all of these onto his shoulders and carried them. If we continue reading in the chapter of Isaiah that Matthew quotes we see in the very next verse that it is by His stripes that we are healed. God is so very concerned for every one of our pains and infirmities that He allowed a whip to fall across the shoulders of Jesus. As He was wounded again and again we were being healed. Weak arms will be lifted, failing voices will sing again and deaf ears will hear the shepherd’s voice! When the things of earth have passed we will stand strong and eternally young in the presence of our ageless King!