Two-Minute Manna

“I am for you,” God declares. Could there have been any music sweeter to the ears of His people than these words? Maybe, like them, you feel you are held captive, far from where you should be because of sin and rebellion. Take heart, dear people, God is for you, just as He was for His people - and if God be for you, none can stand against you (Romans 8:31).

Eighteen times in this chapter God says, “I will.” That’s always the way it is. God does the work. All that’s left for His people to do is to respond.

I remember when my daughter, Mary Elizabeth, was about 1 ½ years old. She came to me with a pink balloon not yet inflated. I blew it up for her until it was about as tall as she was. As I handed it to her, I cautioned her to be careful. With a smile on her face, she grabbed the balloon and toddled off. But she wasn’t gone two minutes before she came back, blowing into a pink piece of plastic hanging from her mouth. The balloon had popped. The warning was not heeded. I see the same thing happen to a lot of us. Something blows up. Something pops. The bubble bursts. And what do we attempt to do? We blow and blow in our own strength. We try to put the marriage back together, raise the child, meet the need ourselves. But we get nowhere. Here, the Lord is saying something wonderful to Israel - and to any of us who are aware of a burst bubble, a popped balloon - “I am for you.”