"When evil men advance against
me to devour my flesh, when my enemies and my foes attack me, they will stumble
and fall." (Ps 27:2 NIV)
How much confidence do we have in God? Do we believe
He will always come through for us? Do we trust fully His promises?
David sure did. He knew through experience that he had
nothing to fear. Even in the vilest of circumstances, God would come through.
Guaranteed! Nothing would be impossible to him, not because of his expertise or
his cunning, but because his Father was there for him!
Walking on icebergs was an unusual experience. We were
exploring the beach at Jokulsarlon in Iceland when we came across them: Hundreds
of icebergs, ranging in size from so small that they would melt in your hand if
you touched them, to huge! Many had washed up on shore, and we were enjoying
throwing them back into the water, climbing them, posing with them for pictures,
etc.
Jokulsarlon is a lagoon filled with icebergs that have
broken off of a nearby glacier. This mighty glacier is gradually being
defeated-or eroded, if you wish-not by global warning as many would think,
but rather, by its proximity to saltwater! The consequence? Gigantic chunks of
ice regularly break off the glacier and become icebergs. These then drift
through a lagoon made up of brackish water, and ultimately make their way into
the Atlantic Ocean. Eventually these mighty giants erode to nothingness, and
some of them wash up on the beach that we were exploring.
And it's all because of salt!
It's there that the following thought hit me: Aren't
we, as Christians, considered to be the salt of the world?
"You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses
its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for
anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men." (Matt 5:13 NIV)
We are indeed the salt of the world, but beware, we
can lose our saltiness!
What makes us salty in the first place? It's simple:
It's our faith in the Lord!
"If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can
say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there' and it will move. Nothing will
be impossible for you." (Matt 17:20 NIV)
What can make us lose our saltiness?
If our faith makes us salty, then it is only natural
to assume that it would be our lack of faith that would make us lose our
saltiness! It would be the times we rely on ourselves, rather than on God!
Remember why Israel wasn't able to immediately conquer
the Promised Land? "The land we explored devours those living in it. All the
people we saw there are of great size. We saw the Nephilim there (the
descendants of Anak come from the Nephilim). We seemed like grasshoppers in our
own eyes, and we looked the same to them." (Num 13:32-33 NIV)
Strangely enough, it's then than our troubles look
bigger than they truly are! We have forgotten that "the one who is in you is
greater than the one who is in the world." (1 John 4:4 NIV).
If we leave our trust in God, however, these very same
icebergs in our lives will grow smaller and smaller, evaporating to nothingness.
Remember, salt is what it takes to erode icebergs!
King David experienced that and we can too!
Those icebergs sure look big, but our God is even
bigger!
Rob Chaffart
The Illustrator: This daily newsletter is dedicated to encouraging
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