God Made An Escape

But on Mount Zion there will be those who escape,

And it will be holy,

The house of Jacob will possess their possessions.

Obadiah 1:17

Obadiah speaks of God’s judgment of the land of Esau, and the redemption of those who remained faithful to God. 

And, God made an escape for you; He sent Jesus.    

Real Life Begins

For thus says the Lord to the house of Israel,

“Seek Me that you may live.”

Amos 5:4

God never stopped loving the Israelites even when they wallowed in sin.  God wanted the Israelites to turn from their sin and return to Him.  Some would say, “How can that be true when again and again the people of Israel suffered so?”

Yes, bad things happen to good people, but we don’t have to help evil along.  The Israelites opened their hearts to evil.  And, evil brings death and destruction.

God brings life.  God never stopped telling the Israelites that He loved them and He asked them again and again to seek Him.  God promised them life.

We too can have new life by acknowledging God’s Son, Jesus, as our Lord, Master and Savior.  When we turn our hearts away from sin and to God that is when real life begins.

God Never Gives Up On You

“Yet even now,” declares the Lord,

“Return to me, with all your heart,

And with fasting, weeping and mourning;

And rend your heart and not your garments.”

Now return to the Lord your God,

For He is gracious and compassionate,

Slow to anger, abounding in lovingkindness….

Joel 2:12-13

God never gave up on getting the Israelites back from the evil that overtook them.  Again and again He sent Prophets to warn the Israelites of impending doom and to call them back to Him. 

And, God never gives up on us.  He wants us back and He sent His Son, Jesus, to redeem us.  Jesus is the way, the truth and the light and He is the only way to God.  Invite Jesus into your life today, and experience God’s love and forgiveness.

God Is Waiting

Whoever is wise, let him understand these things;

Whoever is discerning, let him know them.

For the ways of the Lord are right,

And the righteous will walk in them.

Hosea 14:9

Hosea again and again preached doom and gloom to the Israelites.   And, the Israelites had it coming because they refused to give up idolatry and return to the one true God.

In all this there is the undercurrent that in spite of the Israelites unfaithfulness, God was ready to welcome them back if they would repent of their sin and come to Him. 

No matter how far we stray from God, He is still there waiting to welcome us back.  God is merciful and all we have to do is ask forgiveness for our sin and accept His mercy.

Lions: No Problem

Then the king gave orders, and Daniel was brought in and cast into the lions’ den….  Then the king arose at dawn, at the break of day, and went in haste to the lions’ den.  When he had come near the den to Daniel, he cried out with a troubled voice.  The king spoke and said to Daniel, “Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God, whom you constantly serve, been able to deliver you from the lions?” 

“Then Daniel spoke to the king, “O king, live forever!  My God sent His angel and shut the lions’ mouths and they have not harmed me, inasmuch as I was found innocent before Him, and also toward you, O king, I have committed no crime.” 

Daniel 6:16, 19-22

Daniel trusted God.  It did not matter that statistically it looked like he would die when the King threw him in the lions’ den.  What matter to Daniel was that God had never failed him, and he believed that God would not fail him in the lions’ den.  Daniel was right.  His trust in God trumped the power of the King and the appetite of the lions. 

When we faces lions we need to remember that we serve the same God as Daniel, and that He never changes.  We are not the lions’ lunch, we are God’s children, and He protects what is His.