One Year Bible: May 12

Then the leaders tried to arrest him; but no one laid a hand on him, because his time had not yet come.

John 7:30

p class=”p1″>To read today’s portion of scripture, you can purchase The One Year Bible or find the following in your Bible:

1 Samuel 12:1-13:23
John 7:1-30
Psalm 108:1-13
Proverbs 15:4

When Oregon pastor and author Ron Mehl was first diagnosed with leukemia, he went through a time of great fear and despair, until his wife gently reminded him that,  “The servant of the Lord is indestructible until God is finished with him.”

Such wise, calming words. And so reassuring. It means that we can move forward each day in freedom — the kind you feel when you know your days are held in God’s loving hands, and that as long as you’re breathing air, there’s still work with your name on it. It doesn’t mean you should skip down the freeway or take up sword juggling. We’re not testing God here; we’re trusting Him with every heartbeat and lungful He provides.

It didn’t matter how many people wanted to kill Jesus. They could fume and snort and pull against their tethers all they wanted, and it wouldn’t shorten His life by a second. There was still work for Him to do, and no one could take that from Him until the Father-appointed time had come. And what we see in Scripture was that Jesus was bold, fearless, and other-centered. There doesn’t seem to have been an ounce of self-preservation in Him.

I think you can only live that kind of life when you’ve given up trying to protect yourself, and you’re trusting instead in the One who has counted out your days, and Who saw your end from your beginning.