His Strength, or Your Safety?

[222 words] “But the Lord stood at my side and gave me strength, so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed and all the Gentiles might hear it. And I was delivered from the lions mouth” (2 Tim. 4:17). We sing the song: “…though none go with me, I still will follow.” But would we? I’ve been battling a particularly persistent nest of wasps that dig a new entrance from the roots of a forsythia bush every time I destroy a tunnel and kill a number of them. I can’t help but think that is what Satan does with the church. Wave after wave of trouble and suffering descends upon us: faithful Christians are no longer, the yeast of sin and selfishness works its way through the dough, or God’s love is questioned when a loved one leaves or is sick or dying. And, when our tunnel is…