During our K.I.C.K. (Karate In Christ’s Kingdom) class we ask the students, as they are in a seated stretching position, “How low can you go?” To which they respond, “Super low sir!” It’s a great question to sharpen their focus on giving their absolute best during this phase of class. This is also a great question to encourage us in our walk with Christ; the answer is a source of unimaginable comfort for every Christian, because it testifies to His unconditional care.
Moses declared, “The eternal God is your dwelling place, and underneath are the everlasting arms. And he thrust out the enemy before you and said, Destroy!” (Deuteronomy 33:27.) Wow! When the eternal God is your dwelling place, no matter how low you go, His everlasting arms are UNDERNEATH you.
If you have been walking with Christ for any length of time, you can certainly testify to seasons where you were brought very low. And yet, regardless of how low you went, UNDERNEATH you were His everlasting arms.
- Sinking in stress . . . UNDERNEATH you are His everlasting arms
- Submerged in sin . . . UNDERNEATH you are His everlasting arms
- Drowning in debt . . . UNDERNEATH you are His everlasting arms
- Descending into discouragement . . . UNDERNEATH you are His everlasting arms
- Cast down in your career . . . UNDERNEATH you are His everlasting arms
- Crushed in conflict . . . UNDERNEATH you are His everlasting arms
- Falling into faithlessness . . . UNDERNEATH you are His everlasting arms
- Immersed in impurity . . . UNDERNEATH you are His everlasting arms
Beloved, regardless of how far you fall, you cannot fall out of His everlasting arms of loving care and comfort. Remember this, God’s arm is not short. He can reach all the way and He can reach everybody. You are never beyond the reach of His everlasting arms. “If I make my bed in Sheol,” David exulted, “you are there!” (Psalm 139:8.)
You might be thinking, “Pastor Tommy, you just don’t know what I have done!” You’re right, I don’t know what you have been doing, but He does. And in spite of whatever you have done, in spite all you have ever done, He has given you the promise that you will never sink so low in this life that you are no longer resting in the strength of His everlasting arms.
Who convinced you that you have fallen so far that He cannot reach you? Don’t believe it! It smells like smoke and comes from the pit of hell, as my friend Steve Brown likes to say. Once His, always His, regardless of the times when we behave as if we are not His, as if we had never met Him and don’t even know Him.
Satan would like nothing better than to convince you that you have dug yourself so deep into the proverbial pit that you are beyond the reach of your God. The accuser of the brethren knows he cannot take you out of the hand of your Redeemer, so he will do everything he can to mess with your mind. Don’t let him do it! Sin may take you so low that you cannot imagine anyone on the face of this earth as bad as you. Fear not! You’re in good company.
The great apostle Paul said, “This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief” (1 Timothy 1:15). Marinating in the grace of God, Paul was overwhelmed by the realization that God chose to save him, knowing just how bad Paul was. He was a persecutor of the church. He was a blasphemer of God. He was a hater of Christ. He was the Pharisee who held the coats of those who stoned Stephen. In spite of the deplorable depth of his sin, the everlasting arms of the King of kings were still UNDERNEATH him. And it was those arms that lifted Paul out of the pit of persecution into the palace of preaching for the glory of Jesus. The same everlasting arms that supported Paul are under you today.
This is the gospel. This is grace for your race. NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!
Grace for the Race 