in looking at your life, have you ever felt like the odds are stack against you?
vegas is a town that is built on odds. the reality is that if you gamble the odds are stacked against you. all of the millions and millions of dollars that are spent in building all of those casinos are not being spent because they believe you will win. no, they are built because they know you will lose. the odds are against you.
have you ever had a day where you feel like everybody is ganging up on you? what do you do when you're facing insurmountable, overwhelming problems?
one of the names of GOD in the hebrew is JEHOVAH nissi which means “I am the GOD who defends you.” I am the GOD who protects you. literally, “I defend you when the odds are against you.”
one of the great examples of this is 2 chronicles 20, one of the great stories in the bible. the story goes that three enemy nations of israel decided to team up and go to war against israel at the same time. they were going to tag team israel into submission.
the king of israel at this time was a guy named jehoshaphat. you would think with the odds three to one this would be a story of defeat and devastation but in the end, jehoshaphat wins. he beats the odds because he did everything right.
it's a wonderful story that explains GOD’s protection over the nation of israel. but GOD doesn’t put these stories in the bible just to teach us history lessons. there are principles that are there for us to learn on how to handle overwhelming odds, how to handle when you’re in a battle of life.
some of you are in a financial battle. some of you are in a relationship battle. some of you are in a battle with a disease. these same principles apply to the battles of life you’re going to face this week even when it seems like there’s no way out, even when it seems like you’re going under for the last time. what do you do?
before you do anything else you go directly to GOD. you don’t pass “go”, you don’t “collect $200”. you go straight to GOD and say, “GOD, i am overwhelmed!” you ask, “GOD, what do you think about this situation?” and you try to get GOD’s perspective on the problem.
just a thought from the front porch…
