When I think of just how much
God cares for us many songs come to mind. Here are
three worth noting.
AMAZING GRACE
John Newton
“Amazing grace! How sweet the
sound That saved a wretch like me!
I once was lost, but now am
found; Was blind, but now I see.
’Twas grace that taught my
heart to fear, And grace my fears relieved;
How precious did that grace
appear The hour I first believed!
Through many dangers, toils
and snares, I have already come;
’Tis grace hath brought me
safe thus far, And grace will lead me home.
The Lord has promised good to
me, His Word my hope secures;
He will my Shield and Portion
be, As long as life endures.
Yea, when this flesh and
heart shall fail, And mortal life shall cease,
I shall possess, within the veil,
A life of joy and peace.
The earth shall soon dissolve
like snow, The sun forbear to shine;
But God, who called me here
below, Will be forever mine.
When we’ve been there ten
thousand years, Bright shining as the sun,
We’ve no less days to sing
God’s praise Than when we’d first begun.”
THE LOVE OF GOD
Frederick M. Lehman
“The love of God is greater
far Than tongue or pen can ever tell;
It goes beyond the highest
star, And reaches to the lowest hell;
The guilty pair, bowed down
with care, God gave His Son to win;
His erring child He
reconciled, And pardoned from his sin. Refrain:
Oh, love of God, how rich and
pure! How measureless and strong!
It shall forevermore endure— The
saints’ and angels’ song.”
GOD WILL TAKE CARE OF YOU
Civilla D. Martin
“Be not dismayed whate’er
betide, God will take care of you;
Beneath His wings of love
abide, God will take care of you. Refrain:
God will take care of you, Through
every day, o’er all the way;
He will take care of you, God
will take care of you.”
It doesn’t matter what your
station is in life, rich or poor, slave or free, young or old, God really does
care. He is not looking down from Heaven with a monstrous club just waiting for
you to mess up so He can pound you.
Many people, even Christians,
think that God is just waiting for us to sin so He can make something happen in
our lives that will make us so miserable we can’t stand it.
On the other hand, there are
those who think He is a wishy-washy old white-haired geezer in the sky that is
going to love us all into Heaven regardless of how we live or treat Him.
God is neither a marsh mellow
who winks at sin or a tyrant waiting to beat us into submission. So what is He?
Simply put, He is God. He created us, all of us. He is holy. He cannot look
upon sin. What is sin? Sin is anything that is a violation against His will.
How do we know what is sin? Read the Bible. It’s all in there.
In the Bible God has told us
exactly how we should live, whether we are a Christian or not. Every human
being, Christian or not, is obligated to obey Him because He is our Creator.
Let me say it another way. If we are not a Christian, we must obey Him simply
because He created us. If we are a Christian, we must obey Him because we are
His child in Christ.
Consider this. God wants to
live among us, but He cannot do so as long as there is sin in us.
Unfortunately, there is sin within us all, going all the way back to our
original dad and mom; i.e. Adam and Eve.
Sin must be paid for, and it
must be by the blood of a sinless man. No one qualifies. Since we all have sin
in us, sin can’t pay for sin. Animals and inanimate objects won’t work because
they are not human. Therefore, what is left? Only God is without sin. Only God
can pay for it, but it must be by human blood. So God became man (Jesus),
remained without sin, and died on our behalf. That satisfied God’s justice, and
He is now able to freely save anyone who will come to Him through Jesus.
By saving us, He guaranteed
our place in Heaven with Him. In the meantime, He keeps us by His Spirit while
we are on earth. When we arrive in Heaven, since all our sins have been
forgiven, we arrive totally without sin. All of this is free to us as long as
we deposit our faith in the only way to Heaven … Jesus Christ. We believe by
faith. He saves by grace. Because we accept His sacrifice for our sins, He
gives us what we don’t deserve (Heaven), and doesn’t give us what we do deserve
(hell). That is grace, and a very, very simplified version.
Far too many people than I
care to imagine are hurting. They’re victims of crime, abuse, sickness, taunting,
and anything else that can be imagined. They’re despondent, scared, and angry.
They’re held captive by drugs, bad family situations, lust, etc. They may live
in an affluent neighborhood, or behind prison walls. Many feel unloved and
unwanted. There are thousands of reasons so many are hurting. Whatever they
are, know this, God does care about you personally whether you believe it or
not.
Why does God cause all this
misery I’m going through you say? He doesn’t. There’s a jerk angel we call
Satan that’s behind it all. So let us not pile our accusations on God. You
know, a lot of times our misery is simply because we have made our own mess of
things. We can’t blame God. We can’t blame Satan. We can’t blame Mom and Dad.
We can’t blame the weather. We can’t blame anyone. “It’s just us.”
We live in a cruel world.
Most people don’t care if you’re hurting. They have enough problems of their
own, or are just too hardhearted. However, there is a God in Heaven who cares.
Jesus has told us that life is going to be rough because of sin in the world.
Look what the world did to Him, and He allowed it for our benefit. He also told
us that whatever we go through, He will be right there with us. Regardless of
what the world throws at us, we can lean on Him. Believe it or not, it works.
Millions will testify to that.
God has made every provision
to get us through this world and on to our home in Heaven by coming to Him
through His Son Jesus. Despite the hurt we feel, when we put our lives in
Jesus’ hands, anything we experience on this earth will be worth it all because
of the ultimate happiness we will have with Him in Heaven.
The circumstances of this
sinful world can take everything we have away, but if we belong to Jesus
nothing can take away our right to be with Him for all eternity. So let us look
up, He is coming soon to take us home.
“For I am persuaded, that
neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things
present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature,
shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our
Lord. (Romans 8:38-39)
Grant Phillips
Email: grantphillips@windstream.net
Pre-Rapture Commentary: http://grant-phillips.blogspot.com
