{"id":3549,"date":"2016-10-01T18:41:07","date_gmt":"2016-10-02T00:41:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kensummers.org\/?p=3549"},"modified":"2016-10-01T18:45:02","modified_gmt":"2016-10-02T00:45:02","slug":"intervention-from-the-lord","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kensummers.org\/?p=3549","title":{"rendered":"Intervention from the Lord"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/kensummers.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/IMG956810.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-3550 alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/kensummers.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/IMG956810-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"img956810\" width=\"256\" height=\"192\" srcset=\"https:\/\/kensummers.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/IMG956810-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/kensummers.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/IMG956810-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/kensummers.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/IMG956810-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/kensummers.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/IMG956810.jpg 1600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 256px) 100vw, 256px\" \/><\/a>While up in the mountains, we celebrated Riley&#8217;s tenth birthday, which is tomorrow. Riley accompanied his parents on a hike today and Bridget captured some great pictures in the process. It was a delight to have our friends Billy and Carol Roberts, from Atlanta, come by for a visit. They were in Summit County the last two weeks enjoying the fall weather in Colorado.<\/p>\n<p><strong>BIBLE VERSE FOR TODAY&#8230;\u00a0<\/strong><em>&#8220;<span id=\"en-NLT-16085\" class=\"text Ps-124-6\">Praise the <span class=\"small-caps\">Lord<\/span>,<\/span><span class=\"indent-1\"><span class=\"indent-1-breaks\">\u00a0<\/span><span class=\"text Ps-124-6\">who did not let their teeth tear us apart!<\/span><\/span><span id=\"en-NLT-16086\" class=\"text Ps-124-7\"><sup class=\"versenum\">\u00a0<\/sup>We escaped like a bird from a hunter\u2019s trap.<\/span><span class=\"indent-1\"><span class=\"indent-1-breaks\">\u00a0<\/span><span class=\"text Ps-124-7\">The trap is broken, and we are free!<\/span><\/span><span id=\"en-NLT-16087\" class=\"text Ps-124-8\"><sup class=\"versenum\">\u00a0<\/sup>Our help is from the <span class=\"small-caps\">Lord<\/span>,<\/span><\/em><span class=\"indent-1\"><em><span class=\"indent-1-breaks\">\u00a0<\/span><\/em><span class=\"text Ps-124-8\"><em>who made heaven and earth.&#8221;<\/em> Psalm 124:6-8 NLT<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Psalm 123 pictures God&#8217;s people enduring contempt keeping their eyes on the Lord waiting for the &#8220;signal&#8221; to end their trials. Psalm 124 is one of rejoicing over the Lord&#8217;s intervention. One thing about difficulties coming to an end; after some time has passed, the difficulties began to fade into the &#8220;woodwork.&#8221; That has at least been my experience with my recovery over the last three years. I went from questioning if and when my hospitalization would come to an end, to seeing the days of struggle, question and pain becoming a distant memory.<\/p>\n<p>But knowing the source of your help makes all the difference. Once again we see the psalmist declaring help from, <em>&#8220;the Lord, who made heaven and earth.&#8221;\u00a0<\/em>There is noting outside of God&#8217;s knowledge or outside of His power to change.<\/p>\n<p>This psalm opens with a declaration of recognition and praise, <em>&#8220;<span class=\"text Ps-124-1\">What if the <span class=\"small-caps\">Lord<\/span> had not been on our side?<\/span><span class=\"indent-1\"><span class=\"indent-1-breaks\">\u00a0<\/span><span class=\"text Ps-124-1\">Let all Israel repeat:<\/span><\/span><span id=\"en-NLT-16081\" class=\"text Ps-124-2\"><sup class=\"versenum\">\u00a0<\/sup>What if the <span class=\"small-caps\">Lord<\/span> had not been on our side\u00a0<\/span><\/em><span class=\"indent-1\"><span class=\"text Ps-124-2\"><em>when people attacked us?&#8221;<\/em> (Psalm 124:1,2 NLT) If the Lord had not been with God&#8217;s people and been their helper, the outcome would have been far different.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><em><span id=\"en-NLT-16082\" class=\"text Ps-124-3\">&#8220;They would have swallowed us alive<\/span><span class=\"indent-1\"><span class=\"indent-1-breaks\">\u00a0<\/span><span class=\"text Ps-124-3\">in their burning anger.<\/span><\/span><span id=\"en-NLT-16083\" class=\"text Ps-124-4\"><sup class=\"versenum\">\u00a0<\/sup>The waters would have engulfed us;<\/span><span class=\"indent-1\"><span class=\"indent-1-breaks\">\u00a0<\/span><span class=\"text Ps-124-4\">a torrent would have overwhelmed us.<\/span><\/span><span id=\"en-NLT-16084\" class=\"text Ps-124-5\"><sup class=\"versenum\">\u00a0<\/sup>Yes, the raging waters of their fury\u00a0<\/span><\/em><span class=\"indent-1\"><span class=\"text Ps-124-5\"><em>would have overwhelmed our very lives.&#8221;<\/em> (Psalm 124:3-5 NLT)<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p>But those circumstances never took place because the Lord did not let it happen. Once again, as I reflect on my own personal health crisis, I can relate to the words of this psalm. My outcome could have been far different and far more challenging than the prolonged journey of recovery that I am on.<\/p>\n<p>I am thankful that regardless of the trial, circumstance or challenge the Lord who is the maker of heaven and earth is our helper.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Prayer for today&#8230;\u00a0<\/strong><em>Lord, thank You for being the &#8220;just in time&#8221; God. You are the God who is &#8220;on our side&#8221; and the Lord of heaven and earth. Nothing is outside of Your concern, or power to change.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>While up in the mountains, we celebrated Riley&#8217;s tenth birthday, which is tomorrow. Riley accompanied his parents on a hike today and Bridget captured some great pictures in the process. It was a delight to have our friends Billy and Carol Roberts, from Atlanta, come by for a visit. They were in Summit County the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3549","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kensummers.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3549","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kensummers.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kensummers.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kensummers.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kensummers.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3549"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/kensummers.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3549\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3553,"href":"https:\/\/kensummers.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3549\/revisions\/3553"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kensummers.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3549"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kensummers.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3549"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kensummers.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3549"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}