"When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; And through the rivers, they will not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be scorched, Nor will the flame burn you." Isaiah 43:2 NAS

One thing always remains true in life: We will all pass through waters, life at times will seem to overflow us and we may think we are getting scorched as we walk through the fire of testing. One thing also always remains true: Jesus will never leave us and will never forsake us, that means never (Heb 13:5). So the question for us is how are we going to respond when the rivers of life seem overflowing?

One thing we can't escape is trials and the testing of life. If you could put LIFE into an acronym it would be: Learning Information For Eternity. Life teaches lessons that point us to the creator of life. Ever notice that when we learn there is usually a test to follow up what we have learned. So we need to learn a basic piece (peace) of eternal information here. That is that the Lord God, the King of Kings, the Holy One of Israel, the wonderful counselor will always go through whatever we go through and is well acquainted with our grief (Is 53:3).

We have a perfect picture of this in the story of Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego when the three of them were thrown into the furnace for standing up for the true God and not worshiping the golden image. They refused to bow and worship the false god of king Nebuchadnezzar. For that they were thrown into the fire. Since they put their trust in the true God, they were neither scorched nor burned. In fact as you recall when Nebuchadnezzar looked into the furnace he saw not three figures but four.

Jesus was in that fire with them and He never left them. They were so close to Him in that fire that they didn't even have the smell of fire on their clothes (Dan 2:6-3:27). Floods and fires of life draw us close to the Lord. So close that there is the sweet aroma on us that we have been in the presence of the Lord. The fires of LIFE also produce an assurance in us who love the Lord with all our hearts. We continue to realize daily how much we are Loved Infinitely For Eternity (LIFE).

So since we are learning information for eternity through rivers and fires of life and we know they will not overflow us or scorches us then we can respond to anything we go through with the peace of Christ ruling in our hearts and be thankful (Col 3:15). We can be comforted by the LIFE application manual. For us to respond properly we need to be equipped with the only eternal information needed. That only comes through His word.

There are no fire drills in this LIFE we live. Only real live fires that may at times feel pretty intense on our lives. We must always go back to the basics and remember that our God, the only true God is with us. It may seem hopeless to you. It may seem to be more than you can bear. For those times we can run back to the word of God to give us the eternal information needed. He will never give you more than you can handle (1 Cor 10:13).

To Learn Information For Eternity (LIFE) sometimes it may seem like we are a disaster area. Here in the states the President at times declares an area that has been devastated with floods or fires a disaster area. He then sends relief to that area to rebuild it and replenish it. When the rivers of life overflow us we need to instantly look up to the Lord for our relief. We can't do it on our own. As soon as we admit we are a disaster area the Lord immediately sends relief to our weary souls.

Today do something you may find hard to do. Thank the Lord for bringing you in and through the fires. Thank Him that He has brought you into the trials you might be in. Finally, remember that you are Loved Infinitely For Eternity (LIFE).