"If it had not been the LORD who was on our side, when men rose up against us, then they would have swallowed us alive." (Psalm 124:2, 3a)
Frankly, "If it had not been the LORD who was on our side," there would be no Israel today. In fact there would be no Jews. The German intent was expressed at Wansee, January 20, 1942. Their intent was to [swallow]...alive" every Jew on the planet. Most just do not realize how close the German came to fulfilling this mandate.
And what about you and me? "If it had not been the LORD who was on our side," we would probably be dead, certainly on our way to the Fires of Hell, "having no hope and without God in the world." Now some might say, "Well, what about all those times I escaped injury, recovered from some disease, had food, shelter, etc., all before I surrendered my life to Jesus?" It was "the LORD who was on your side." You may say, "But how can that be? How could God be on my side, when I was not on His?" Simple. Jesus Christ being on your side has nothing to do with you or me. It has everything to do with Him. He was on your side at conception, or you might have been aborted. He was on your side growing up, or you would have had nothing to eat. He was on your side, or you would have had no shelter. Frankly, "If it had not been the LORD who was on our side," we would have absolute nothing, going nowhere. The human race simply does not understand this.
Now I am not saying that this theology is an "automatic ticket" to Heaven, but it does magnificently reveal the Love of the Living Triune God, keeping us, sustaining us, preserving us so that we can respond to His love, forgiveness, His atoning Blood, and enter His Kingdom. This, "LORD-who was-on-our-side," is unearned. You cannot perform well enough to secure it; you can never be "spiritual" enough to boast in it or anything, for that matter, in life. My dear, dear, aspiring-in-life friend, there was, is, and never shall be anything about you or me which deserves it/Him. It is not, "If I had not been so worthy, so spiritual, so exceptional that the Lord was always on my side"------------- just can never be. It is and shall always be, "If it had not been the LORD (revealed solely in Jesus Christ) Who was (and is) on our side." Rufus Moseley once summed it up perfectly when he described Jesus Christ as, "Perfect Everything." This is it.
Father, in Jesus' Name, continually remind me that it is not "me on my side," but, "You on my side" that is the victory in life. Amen.
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