Jeremiah 45:5 Should you then seek great things for yourself? Seek them not. For I will bring disaster on all people, declares the Lord, but wherever you go I will let you escape with your life.

Never forget that your life is hid with Christ in God. So that whether you live or die you are the Lord’s. While you live, however, there will be times that you might be anxious for your safety. Recently I had planned a trip to the City of Atlanta along with my daughter. I had been meaning to visit it for many years as I had always heard good things about it.

On the morning of departure I woke up and opened up my daily devotional and the verse above leaped out at me though it was not the one designated for that day. In the New King James Version the last part of the verse is translated as follows: “But I will give your life to you as a prize in all places, wherever you go.”  That was such great assurance because although I have travelled quite a bit through the years, there are far more reasons today to be apprehensive. So I consciously thanked the Lord and tucked the verse away in my memory.

I had checked what the temperature in Atlanta would be for our arrival and short stay in order to make wardrobe decisions. When I got to the airport however, I pulled up the weather report on my phone and read the details: “severe thunderstorms, lightening and tornadoes are expected throughout the day…” I clicked out of the website and thought “my, are we in for a very rough ride!” I decided not mention it to my daughter. I simply recalled the Scripture verse and felt that no matter what happened we would get through the experience just fine. Apart from a very bumpy and protracted approach, we landed safely and on time, though we later learned that indeed even the highway to our hotel had been impassable for much of the morning.

Jeremiah was speaking to his secretary Baruch at what appears to have been a very tumultuous time in the life of their nation Israel. Baruch was afraid, restless and disturbed by what was going on but Jeremiah had a word for him personally from the Lord that no matter what, his life would be spared. Keep your focus on your Lord and what he says to you because he alone is the preserver of your life.