Protection When You Need It
Isaiah 25:4 For you have been a refuge to the poor, a refuge to the needy in their distress, a shelter from the rainstorm and a shade from the heat. When the blast of the ruthless was like a winter rainstorm the noise of aliens like heat in a dry place, you subdued the heat with the shade of clouds; the song of the ruthless was stilled. (NRSV)
How do you deal with the ruthless, difficult people in your life? The ones that want to undermine you, attack you, oppose you at every turn? What do you actually do with them?
As much as we may have a bunch of good, honest, decent and loving people in our lives, there are also some incredibly ruthless ones out there as well, aren’t there? And when they come after you, they seem so strong, so overwhelming, so impossible to deal with.
We’ve all had people like that in our lives. “Ruthless” sums them up perfectly. And it seems that when they assail us, our lives are at their mercy. There’s nowhere to turn. Nowhere to hide. But that’s actually not quite true.
One of the things that God promises His people is His protection from the ruthless people.
Isaiah 25:4,5 For you have been a refuge to the poor, a refuge to the needy in their distress, a shelter from the rainstorm and a shade from the heat. When the blast of the ruthless was like a winter rainstorm the noise of aliens like heat in a dry place, you subdued the heat with the shade of clouds; the song of the ruthless was stilled. (NRSV)
I love how Isaiah writes that with such powerful, such colourful picture language. You can’t mistake what God’s saying to us here: whether the blast of the ruthless is like a cold, winter rainstorm or the dry heat of the summer, God is your protection. God is your refuge.
So, the next time you’re under attack, the next time you can’t defend yourself, the next time you find yourself with nowhere to run, nowhere to turn, nowhere to hide.
Remember. There is a refuge for the needy in distress.
That’s God’s Word. Fresh … for you … today.
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