Everlasting Arms

Everlasting Arms
August 3, 2009
Deut 33:27 "The eternal God is your refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms."

My youngest daughter is 10 months old and she has learned the safety of her father's arms. She, being the youngest of four, must constantly seek her father's arms to escape the rough play of the other three children. When she is sad and needing comforting, she seeks out her mother, but when she needs protecting, she seeks out the arms of her father. When she is scared, afraid, or in need of safety, she has figured out that if she extends her arms upward at me and glances up with hopeful eyes, I will pick her up and rescue her every time. My daughter has learned that the safest place in the world for her is in her father's arms. She knows that I will protect her, risking my life, to keep her safe.

God, our Heavenly Father, is the exact same way for us as Christians. In Deuteronomy, Jacob was bestowing blessings on his children before his death, and to his son Asher, he said, "The eternal God is your refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms." Jacob new the best place to be was safely in the arms of God. The descendants of Asher, after the exile from Egypt and entrance into the Promised Land, settled into the region known as Galilee. It is interesting that Galilee had the best climate, water, soil, crops and blessing of all the Promised Land. It is also interesting that Galilee is where Jesus spent His ministry, as the first Christians came out of Galilee, the descendents of Asher.

God wants to protect you and keep you safe from harm. He wants you to extend your arms upward and glance at Him with hopeful eyes, knowing that He will extend His Everlasting Arms to keep you safe. God wants to protect you; the safest place for you to be is in His arms. He will protect you, risking His life to keep you safe. He risked His son's life on the cross to keep you safe in this life and the next. Today, God wants you to run to His arms in order to find safety. There is nothing childish about seeking safety in the arms of God, as His Everlasting Arms contain much more than just safety. Read the verses before and after Jacob's blessing to Asher:
"Most blessed of sons is Asher; let him be favored by his brothers, and let him bathe his feet in oil...There is no one like the God of Jeshurun, who rides on the heavens to help you and on the clouds in his majesty...He will drive out your enemy before you...So Israel will live in safety alone; Jacob's spring is secure in a land of grain and new wine where the heavens drop dew."

Christian, God wants you to run to His Everlasting Arms for safety. And in that safety, He will drive out your enemies before you. And as an added bonus, for finding safety in the Everlasting Arms, your spring will be secure in a land of grain and new wine where heavens drop dew. I don't know about you, but I sure need the safety of God's Everlasting Arms and anything else that might go with it.

1. In what area of your life do you need safety?
2. Are you running to the Everlasting Arms or are you trying it alone?
3. How can you stay protected by the Everlasting Arms?

Add. Scriptures for Study: Deut 7:19, Deut 33:20-28, Ps 5:11, Is 66, Jer 27:5