The Everlasting Father

"Ye shall not go out with haste, nor by flight, for the Lord will go before you, and the God of Israel will be your rear guard." Isaiah 52:12b

The salvation of the Lord is an absolute salvation, as immutable as His will. There are no cracks in the armor or loopholes to exploit. When you are in His salvation, in His will, where He is, then there is peace and joy: "Ye shall not go out with haste, nor by flight." There is never any grounds to act out of fear anymore, for it is God that leads you ("go before you") and protects you ("your rear guard"). He makes the way and He keeps the way. Where He is, there is home. He is the ever present fireside.

We who are within the will of God, we who are saved by the finished work of Christ, have no reason for fear. Read Isaiah 43:2 and let all fears be silent. The leadership and guardianship of God is absolute. The only dangerous place is outside of His leading and guarding. If we, however, are in His will, within His leading and guarding, from whence, then, comes frets and worries? They are ludicrous, as ludicrous as Israel's fears in the wilderness; there, God's salvation was indeed an absolute salvation, His promises absolute promises, His presence an absolute presence. Therefore, as we can ask by what right did they doubt the God who is there, so too we must ask ourselves by what right do we doubt the God who is there, who will never leave or forsake us, who ever leads and ever guards us?

"You lead and you protect.

You are the everlasting Father.

May your all-consuming Love

Lay all my fears to rest..."

-Jon Vowell