Roparna
”Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” (John 14:27)
The terrorist attacks in France, Belgium, Germany etc prove to us that no place is safe in the world. Men’s hearts fail them from fear over where the next unexpected attack will take place. And if a terrorist attack doesn’t kill us a plane crash or other accidents can sweep away our fragile lives in a moment. Fear of death paralizes and worries millions. But Jesus didn’t want these things to scare us (see Luke 21:26-28, Prov 3:25). He wanted us to have His peace. But how can we have peace when death might be just around the corner? Onboard a storm-tossed steamer, where the passengers feared for their lives, one Christian woman had found the answer. She was asked: “Why are you not afraid?” Her answer was simple: “I had made Christ my refuge, and if my work was done, I might as well lie in the bottom of the ocean as in any other place; but if my work was not done, all the waters of the ocean could not drown me.” She had peace because she trusted in God and was thereby viritually immortal, as long as she was not presumptious and as long as God saw that there was a purpose for her to live. She could claim the promise: “A thousand may fall at your side, And ten thousand at your right hand; But it shall not come near you. … Because you have made the LORD, who is my refuge, Even the Most High, your dwelling place, No evil shall befall you… For He shall give His angels charge over you, To keep you in all your ways.” Satan’s power to harrass may be great. But if we have placed our lives in God’s hand, He will hinder Satan from taking our lives before our time has come (see Job 2:6, Ecc 7:18). Sometimes it might seem as though God’s servants die randomly or without meaning. but if not even a sparrow falls to the ground unless God sees it (Matt 10:29) we can trust that the same is true of God’s children. God only permits His servants’ death if it can benefit the spread of the gospel more than their lives (Ps 119:15), then He will raise them to a glorious eternity.