God is keeping careful watch over us and the future. (I Peter 1:3 MSG) I cannot help but think that someone needs to hear this today. God is keeping his watch over our lives - regardless of what we may see happening around us that seems to indicate he has 'slacked' in his watchfulness and care. The present and the future are both in his hands. We can never forget this fact. We don't rely upon a changeable God - his power is unchanging as is his presence with us as we navigate through life. Living with a fear that God may abandon us is a message straight out of the pit of hell. God can no more abandon one of his children than we can take the earth out of its orbit by blowing into the wind. The oversight of God in our lives isn't diminished because evil abounds. We may feel like the pressures of life have overtaken us, but we are still clearly in his hands. While the devil tries to 'huff and puff' and blow our house down, God's right hand is holding us secure...
The fear of human opinion disables; trusting in God protects you from that. (Proverbs 29:25 MSG) Human opinion can be crippling at times - especially when we care deeply about something and then encounter very boisterous opinions to the contrary. God isn't concerned about what 'opinion' someone holds - he cares about what one's heart holds. We can have all the world's opinions about a topic put out there on the table and find that some are very close to others, but there will be a wide variety of opinion even for those who say they hold similar opinions! God's commandments aren't opinions - so they don't change and they don't vary from day to day or circumstance to circumstance. If we always keep that in mind, we will look to his commands to formulate our plan for living rather than human opinion. If you have ever been 'put down' for a choice you have made or an 'opinion' you held, you know how emotionally debilitating that has the...