Brown's Daily Word 8-24-07

It is Friday. . . Thank you, Jesus. We are just a week away from one of the BIG days in our family. Next Friday, August 31, we will be having the wedding rehearsal for Sunita and Andy's wedding.
It is very hot and humid here today. Sunita is on her way home from Washington, D.C. this afternoon. Thank you for praying for all of us. We praise the Lord for you.
We serve a God who makes astounding promises to His people and He keeps them with wonderful trustworthiness. We can count on Him 24/7.
In 1989 a devastating earthquake flattened the country of Armenia, killing over 30,000 people in less than 4 minutes. In the midst of the confusion that followed, a father left his wife securely at home and rushed to his son’s school, hoping for the best but fearing the worst. When he arrived, he discovered to his horror that his son’s school had been flattened by the massive earthquake. While surveying the rubble, he remembered a promise that he had made to his little boy. “What ever happens, I’ll always be there for you.” The situation looked hopeless, but he just couldn’t take his mind off that promise. He remembered that his son’s classroom had been in the back right corner of the building, so he rushed to that spot over there and started digging through the rubble.
Other grieving parents arrived, crying for their children. Some tried to pull the man off the rubble saying, “It’s too late! They’re dead. You can’t help.” Even a police officer told the grieving father to go home. But courageously he proceeded alone because he needed to know for himself whether his boy was dead or alive and he needed to fulfill his promise, “No matter what, I’ll always be there for you.” He dug for 8 hours, then 12, then 24, then 36. Finally, in the 38th hour, he pulled back a large boulder; among the remaining rubble he heard his son’s voice. He screamed, “Armand!”
The little voice answered him, “Dad, Dad, it’s me.” Then the boy added these priceless words: “I told the other kids not to worry. I told them that you would save us because you promised. You promised me that no matter what happened you would always be there for me. You did it. You did it, Dad!”
"I promise" is a phrase that seems almost meaningless in this day and age. Often when we make a promise, we do our best to keep it, but often we fail to do so. We don’t mean to fail, but sometimes it just happens.
In the Scriptures, we read about a loving heavenly Father who has made many precious promises to us. He has promised that our needs will be taken care of, that our sins are forgiven, that we will never be overwhelmed beyond our ability to bear, and the gift of everlasting life. What sets these promises apart is that God is the One who has made them. God has the power and the integrity to fulfill each and every promise He has made. Like a loving father, God cares for each and every one of us and He has promised that whatever happens He will always be there for us. Even as the world around us quakes and crumbles, our Heavenly Father stands by His promises.
In Psalm 9 we see that, even in a turbulent world, God offers to us in Himself a sanctuary of refuge. Look at Vs 9 of Psalm 9, “The LORD also will be a refuge for the oppressed, a refuge in times of trouble.” One of the first things you notice from that verse is the fact that we live in a difficult world filled with troubles and oppression. The reality of it all is that life is hard. Nowhere in Scripture are we promised that it will be easy. Life is hard. Bad things happen to good people, to bad people, and to everyone in between. So far this may seem pretty depressing, but before we get to the really good news, we often have to face bad news.
We live in a troubled world. If you are young and at the beginning of your life, then you may be naïve to all the trouble in this world. As you get older you will see more and more suffering and pain. The older you are, the more you have seen of this. There are wars and rumors of wars, there are abusive and corrupt people who oppress innocents, and there is the downfall of our Christian heritage in a decaying culture. On top of all this, our troubled world is a hectic fast-paced world which sets an unrealistically high standard for success. Many of you live such high paced lives that you are literally burned out. You are running here and there and you are weary, anxious, tired and at your wit’s end. It is in God alone that you will find a refuge from the troubles of this life. The word refuge literally means a place of safety. When you are troubled, God wants to be your refuge, your place of safety, the One you turn to for shelter from the pain and strife.
It is often in times of trouble that we turn to God. We know He’s there when times are good, but it’s often when things are not going well that we really turn to God for that refuge. It is in desperation that we cry out to Him to protect and deliver us, and when we call out to Him He is always faithful. He keeps His promise. He will always protect and deliver us. God will be our refuge, but the refuge does not protect us from experiencing the storm, but rather it protects us during the storm. In this life we will experience trouble, but God will see us through it.
When Corrie Ten Boon was in her late teens, she witnessed Nazi soldiers arresting and torturing an older Christian. She said to her dad, “I couldn’t stand that. I would wilt under persecution. I’m afraid I wouldn’t be faithful.” Her father said, “Corrie, God will give you the faith you need.” Yet, she kept insisting, “I don’t have that kind of courage and faith.” Finally her dad said, “Do you remember when you were a little girl and we took rides on the train? I kept your ticket in my pocket. Do you remember when I gave you your ticket?” “She said, “Yeah, right before we got on the train.” “Right,” he said, “I kept it until you needed it so you wouldn’t lose it. God will give you the faith you need. He will empower you by His Holy Spirit according to your need.” Trust Him for that.” Later, when Corrie Ten Boom was arrested and persecuted by the Nazi’s, her faithfulness and strength became an inspiration to all Christians.
God will give you what you need. You can count on Him for that. You can trust God. Look at vs. 10. Psalm 9:10, "And those who know Your name will put their trust in You; for You, Lord, have not forsaken those who seek You."
We live in a day when it’s hard to trust anybody. We have all been lied to or taken advantage to the point where we are cynical whenever somebody says, “Trust me” or “I promise”.
Psalm 9:10, "And those who know Your name will put their trust in You; For You, Lord, have not forsaken those who seek You. " The more we know the more we trust. When we read through out the Scriptures about God, when we see how He has been proven faithful in the lives of others, and when we by our own experiences find Him to be faithful and true, then we learn to trust in God as our refuge. We come to trust in the promises of God, and one such promise given here in this text is that for those who seek God, He will never forsake them. What a promise! God is saying, “You can count on Me. I won’t let you down.” God will always be there. That’s the promise that He has made. No matter what you are going through, you are not going through it alone. God has promised, and even at those times when you don’t sense that God is with you, He stands by your side, guiding, comforting, and encouraging you.
The early American Indians had a rite of passage, involving training young boys to become Indian braves. On the night of a boy’s thirteenth birthday, after learning hunting, scouting, and fishing skills, he was put to one final test. He was placed in a thick forest to spend the entire night alone. Up until then, he had never been away from his family and the tribe, but on this night he was blindfolded and taken several miles away. When he took off the blindfold, he was in the middle of a thick wood, and he was scared to death! Every time a twig snapped, he would think that a wild animal was getting ready to pounce.
After what seemed like an eternity, and the sun began to rise the next morning. The boy looked around and saw flowers, trees, and a path. Then, to his complete amazement, he saw the figure of a man standing just a few feet away, armed with a bow and arrow. It was his father, who had been there all night long.
God is like that. Even when we don’t see Him, He’s there. He is faithful and true. He has promised, and He keeps His promise. He is our refuge in times of trouble, and we can trust Him on that. In the end we can say, like that little boy, “I told the other kids not to worry. I told them that you would save us because you promised Dad. You promised me that no matter what happened you would always be there for me. You did it. You did it, Dad!”

Pray for our television outreach tonight on cable channel 4 at 7 p.m. If you are in the area, please join our viewing family.

In Christ,
Brown



Lord, behold our family here assembled. We thank Thee for this place in which we dwell; for the love that unites us; for the peace accorded us this day; for the hope with which we expect the morrow; for the health, the work, the food, and the bright skies that make our lives delightful; for our friends in all parts of the earth, and our friendly helpers in this foreign isle [Samoa]... Give us courage, gaiety, and the quiet mind. Spare to us our friends, soften to us our enemies. Bless us, if it may be, in all our innocent endeavors. If it may not be, give us the strength to encounter that which is to come, that we be brave in peril, constant in tribulation, temperate in wrath, and in all changes of fortune and down to the gates of death, loyal and loving to one another.
... Robert Louis Stevenson



A middle-aged woman had a heart attack and was taken to the hospital.

While on the operating table she had a near death experience.

Seeing God she asked "Is my time up?" God said, "No, you have another 40 years, 2 months and 8 days to live,"

Upon recovery, the woman decided to stay in the hospital and have a facelift, liposuction, and a tummy tuck. She even had someone come in and change her hair color. Since she had so much more time to live, she figured she might as well make the most of it.

After her last operation, she was released from the hospital. While crossing the street on her way home, she was killed by an ambulance.

Arriving in front of God (again), she demanded, "I thought you said I had another 40 years. Why didn't you pull me from out of the path of the ambulance?"

God replied, "Sorry about that, I just didn't recognize you!"