Just
hearing of it was painful. After all night prayers the minister entered the
vehicle with members of his family to drive a long distance. On the way they
crashed into a stationary vehicle. What happened? He had slept off on the
steering wheel. Precious lives were lost. Precious in the
sight of the LORD is the death of his
saints Ps 116:15(KJV). Several years
back a man of God with members of his family crashed whilst in a private
airplane. An inquiry discovered the plane was carrying well beyond what it
should. It had been overloaded. Lives were lost. Was it Satan? Does God protect
His own no more? I recall the woman of God who was pouring kerosene into the
chamber with the fire still on. It exploded leaving her badly burned. She died from the injuries and went home to be with the Lord; as did all
the others.
May be it was the time to go home, but could that be how God
intended for them to go? No act of sabotage on any vehicle, no terrorist
throwing bombs either, but such are clearly avoidable. If it was Satan then I
guess we gave him a foothold, an opportunity to wreak havoc and bring anguish
on all: and do not give the devil
an opportunity to work Eph
4:27(ISV). A man
handling a faulty gas cylinder in the living room didn’t heed the advice to do it
outside. It exploded, drew flames from the kitchen and wiped out his family and
guests. Some blamed it on idols burnt about 30 years back. We had a hand in it
please.
It is not only when angry that we give an opportunity to the devil.
When we deliberately ignore safety precautions we court danger. When petrol explodes in naked flame it is
merely doing what God created it to do. It doesn’t need a demon to get it to do
that. When an overloaded vehicle with bad tyres is on top speed and suffers a
burst tyre and casualties I would put the blame on man. Squarely.
Safety precautions were observed by Jesus Christ, and no man can dare
accuse Him of faithlessness. After this, Jesus
traveled about in Galilee, because he didn't want to travel in Judea, since the
Jews there were trying to kill him Jn 7:1(ISV). The word is repeated in Jn 11:53-54(ISV). So from that day on they resolved to put him to
death. As a result, Jesus no longer walked openly among the Jews. Instead, he
went from there to a town called Ephraim. Was He afraid? Definitely not. He had this balance of faith and
watchfulness.
Recall His response when after fasting for forty days Satan
wanted Him to jump off the highest point of the temple and quoting the promise
of God to protect Him. He told Jesus,
"Since you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, because it is written,
'God will put his angels in charge of you,' and 'With their hands they will
hold you up, so that you will never hit your foot against a rock.'" Jesus
responded to him, "It is also written, 'You must not tempt the Lord your
God.'" Mt 4:6-7(ISV). Now I
mean not that these brethren sinned against God and listened to the devil. How
dare I pass judgement on the Lord’s servant? But beloved I mean that we need to
observe safety precautions lest we give Satan an opportunity.
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