"I AM FOR U"

Recently, at a marriage weekend, my  husband and I were given a bag of Scrabble letters and told to unscramble them and make a saying related to the event.  However, we received the wrong mix of letters for the proper phrase.  So, I made "I AM FOR U."

Trekkie Alert!!!

My husband immediately recognized that saying as part of a Star Trek - The Next Generation episode.  In that show, a woman is promised to a man whom she has never met, and her marriage response to her new husband is, "I am for you."

I've been thinking how appropriate that phrase is for marriage...even from the beginning.

Then the LORD God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.” Genesis 2:18

God, in His wisdom, made man and woman to be - not enemies - but "for" each other, even "fit" for each other.  And, even after 34 years, my husband and I are "fit" for each other!

However, the more I considered "I AM FOR U" the more I thought about my Lord.

The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me?  Hebrews 13:6

My God is for me.  

But sometimes it doesn't seem that way. 

Situations turn out badly.  The unexpected happens.  People get mad at each other, and get mad at me.  I get overwhelmed with it all and feel like throwing up my hands...or running away.  

One of my prayers is for God to change my heart and my mind to be less of the "Old Adam" and more of the "New Man in Christ" - to help me keep my emotions and my mind on the truth and the greatness of what Christ has done...done for me.

Delight yourself in the Lord...Psalm 37:4b 

But sin taints everything.  And at times of stress, I struggle and I forget.  

Then eventually, I breathe...relax, reflect, and remember:

The Lord is on my side; I will not fear.  What can man do to me?  Psalm 118:6

My Lord is on my side.  Through prayer, with His Word and Supper, during worship and with fellow Christians - He sustains me and keeps me in faith.  He is with me and changes me through it all.  

My Lord is on my side.  And because of Christ and the cross, He works all things out for my good, for the good of His Children, His Church, His Kingdom. 

For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.  Romans 8:38-39

This I know, that God is for me. Psalm 56:9b