Historian Shelby Foote tells of a soldier who was wounded at the battle of Shiloh during the American Civil War and was ordered to go to the rear. The fighting was fierce and within minutes he returned to his commanding officer. “Captain, give me a gun!” he shouted. “This fight ain’t got no rear!”
Have you ever felt like that soldier? He felt there was no safe place, no place to retreat or hide. Sometimes life throws one attack and disappointment after another at us. That’s the time to press in toward God. Satan’s attacks can discourage us. The world can be as relentless. But God will never let us fall without helping us back up again. Draw close to Jesus, because this fight ain’t got no rear.
Tags: Civil War, retreat, safety, trials, trouble
Dwight L. Moody, the great Chicago evangelist of the 1880s & 90s, used this illustration:
“A steamboat was stranded in the Mississippi River and the captain could not get her off. Eventually a hard-looking fellow came on board, and said, “Captain, I understand you want a pilot to take you out of this difficulty?”
The captain said, “Are you a pilot?” “Well, they call me one,” he replied.
“Do you know where the snags and sand-bars are?” “No, sir,” came the reply.
“Well, how do you expect to take me out of here if you don’t know where the snags and sand-bars are?”
“I know where they ain’t!” was the reply.”
Moody concluded: “Beware of temptations. “Lead us not into temptation,” our Lord taught us to pray; and again he said, “Watch and pray, lest ye enter into temptation.” We are weak and sinful by nature, and it is a good deal better for us to pray for deliverance rather than to run into temptation and then pray for the strength to resist.”
I say that’s good counsel. What do you say in response to the story?
Tags: Moody, safety, stranded, temptation
Hurricane Katrina left displaced families and individuals that were often referred to in the media as “refugees”. For some, this term was viewed as insulting, so it prompted reporters to scramble for another word that would not be perceived as negative. They decided on the word evacuees.
In truth, however, the word refugee is filled with hope. One dictionary defines it as “one who flees in search of refuge, as in times of war, political oppression, or religious persecution.” Refugee comes from the root word refuge, which speaks of safety, protection, and care for the hurting. It speaks of a safe haven in a storm-filled world.
Jesus said to the broken people of His day, “How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings” (Matthew 23:37). Seek and you shall find.
Tags: refuge, safety