Perfect safety

 

My daughter is driving. I am in the passenger seat beside her. The car in front of us suddenly brakes. She stretches out her arm across me; a reflex of protection. My seat belt held but her action was the first indication of role-reversal. She was now taking care of me as I had taken care of her.

This happened years ago and came to mind as I read about God’s OUTSTRETCHED ARM in several OT verses. A devotional writer says that God does not flex His muscles to impress us — He uses His power to deliver, to encourage, to empower, to anoint, to enable, and to uplift. This figure of speech makes me aware of His care, but also aware that I’m not depending on myself, my seat belt, or even my daughter to protect me from sin’s danger. He does it and He does it by His mighty outstretched arm.

This is first illustrated in the deliverance of His people from bondage in Egypt.

Exodus 6:6. Say therefore to the people of Israel, ‘I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will deliver you from slavery to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great acts of judgment.

This deliverance depicts how God delivers sinners from sin’s bondage. He reaches out to us, and by His outstretched arm and with condemnation of sin, we are delivered. Nothing else can do this, no other person or philosophy or human effort can equal the outstretched arm of God.

Deuteronomy 4:34. Has any god ever attempted to go and take a nation for himself from the midst of another nation, by trials, by signs, by wonders, and by war, by a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, and by great deeds of terror, all of which the Lord your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes?

Not only that, God deals with all enemies and fears that threaten me or make me afraid. He takes very seriously His promises to me:

Deuteronomy 7:19. the great trials that your eyes saw, the signs, the wonders, the mighty hand, and the outstretched arm, by which the Lord your God brought you out. So will the Lord your God do to all the peoples of whom you are afraid.

This deliverance from sin has far-reaching purposes. God intends that my arm is also stretched out so that when people hear of Him, my prayers on their behalf ensure their prayers will be heard and answered:

1 Kings 8:41–43. “Likewise, when a foreigner, who is not of your people Israel, comes from a far country for your name’s sake (for they shall hear of your great name and your mighty hand, and of your outstretched arm), when he comes and prays toward this house, hear in heaven your dwelling place and do according to all for which the foreigner calls to you, in order that all the peoples of the earth may know your name and fear you, as do your people Israel, and that they may know that this house that I have built is called by your name.

Because of this amazing redemption, I am also to keep my life pure before Him. As He told His people in the OT, resisting God is futile. His love is such that He will stretch out His arm and win against any antagonism that is in me. Jeremiah 21:5 says that He will fight against me with outstretched hand and strong arm. I cannot win that battle! God’s power is also shown in creation and in His ability to give authority to whomever He pleases.

Jeremiah 27:5 & 17. “It is I who by my great power and my outstretched arm have made the earth, with the men and animals that are on the earth, and I give it to whomever it seems right to me” and “Ah, Lord God! It is you who have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and by your outstretched arm! Nothing is too hard for you.”

GAZE INTO HIS GLORY. I have a small plaque that says: “I asked Jesus, ‘How much do You love me?’ And Jesus said, ‘This much’ — then stretched out His arms and died.”

God’s outstretched arm is most clear in Jesus. He came from heaven to earth and in love for us, stretched out His arms on the cross to pay for all our sin. Both arms. And now they are wrapped around me in loving comfort and protection. A Fanny Crosby hymn called “Safe in the Arms of Jesus” shares this wonderful truth: “Safe in the arms of Jesus, Safe from corroding care, Safe from the world’s temptations, Sin cannot harm me there. Free from the blight of sorrow, Free from my doubts and fears . . . Safe in the arms of Jesus, Safe on His gentle breast, There by His love o’ershaded, Sweetly my soul shall rest.” Amen!