IN GOD, YOU ARE NOT OUT OF TROUBLE

Sir Godfrey Gregg D.Div

“And seekest thou great things for thyself? Seek them not: for, behold, I will bring evil upon all flesh, saith the Lord: but thy life will I give unto thee for a prey in all places whither thou goest” (Jeremiah 45:5).

A promise given for hard places, and a promise of safety and life in the midst of tremendous pressure, a life “for a prey.” It may well adjust itself to our own times, which are growing harder as we near the end of the age, and the Tribulation times.

What is the meaning of “a life for a prey”? It means a life snatched out of the jaws of the destroyer, as David snatched the lamb from the lion. It means not removed from the noise of the battle and the presence of our foes; but it means a table in the midst of our enemies, a shelter from the storm, a fortress amid the foe, a life preserved in the face of continual pressure: Paul’s healing when pressed out of measure so that he despaired of life; Paul’s Divine help when the thorn remained, but the power of Christ rested upon him and the grace of Christ was sufficient. Lord, give me my life for a prey, and in the hardest places help me today to be victorious.

We often pray to be delivered from calamities; we even trust that we shall be; but we do not pray to be made what we should be, in the very presence of the calamities; to live amid them, as long as they last, in the consciousness that we are, held and sheltered by the Lord, and can, therefore, remain in the midst of them, so long as they continue, without any hurt. For forty days and nights, the Saviour was kept in the presence of Satan in the wilderness, and that, under circumstances of special trial, His human nature being weakened by want of food and rest. The furnace was heated seven times more than it was wont to be heated, but the three Hebrew children were kept a season amid its flames as calm and composed in the presence of the tyrant’s last appliances of torture, as they were in the presence of himself before their time of deliverance came. And the livelong night did Daniel sit among the lions, and when he was taken up out of the den, “no manner of hurt was found upon him, because he believed in his God.” They dwelt in the presence of the enemy because they dwelt in the presence of God.

Brethren these are lessons for us to take at heart. Many times the enemy shows up when God is lifting us to a higher level. May it be in Ministry, financial, breakthrough or whatever the plan of God is for your life. The enemy shows up to test the strength of your character. Tell me where you have been and who you met on this “journey”. I learned that you cannot walk into Jerusalem just like that. I need to know where you were for those days on the “lower ground”.

This is your time to prove to God that you are willing, ready and prepared for the appointment of the office.  Are you willing to face the test of your enemies or will you come up with a failure in the presence of God? This is not about you and your surroundings, but can you withstand sitting before your table with your enemies at your side. You can because Jesus did.