“But the Lord is faithful; he will strengthen you and guard you from the evil one.”
~2 Thessalonians 3:3 (NRSV).
Desperate times call for desperate measures, and we’re all living in a rather fractured age. All the more do we need God to preclude our entry into evil, for none of us is beyond it.
The Apostle Paul, writing in this section of his letter to the Thessalonians, was perhaps feeling constrained for them. Indeed, he implores them to remain faithful to the Lord... to keep doing what they’ve been doing (verse 4).
It’s no different for us.
God is still there and the Spirit goads us to remain on the stiff path chosen for us.
It’s God’s speed we pray for in all we do. We keep going. Despite the problems, the impossibilities, the reasons to quit, we go on past them — unless to do these things would definitely not be God’s will. We trust the inspiration of the Holy Spirit in continuing to do good.
So often the calls to quit, or not keep punching through, are the messages of Satan, tricking us beyond truth. God is closer than we realise. If we draw near to God in this trial, he will draw near to us (James 4:8) and provide the shelter we need from the enemy.
And we will make it through, for God is faithful (1 Thessalonians 5:24).
© 2011 S. J. Wickham.
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