Job. 38:8  Or who shut up the sea with doors, when it brake forth, as if it had issued out of the womb?  9  When I made the cloud the garment thereof, and thick darkness a swaddlingband for it, 10  And brake up for it my decreed place, and set bars and doors, 11  And said, Hitherto shalt thou come, but no further: and here shall thy proud waves be stayed?

 

 We are so busy with thinking and pondering the things that do happen that we give little attention to the things that do not happen.  Such things as not falling down the stairs, not having something fall on your head, not being angry at a particular circumstance, not losing your job, not being without food, or not getting on that plane that later crashed are all things that are in the hands of Almighty God.

 Every day God keeps us from being hurt, being killed, or killing ourselves by accident.  Notice 2 Samuel 22:31  As for God, his way is perfect; the word of the LORD is tried: he is a buckler to all them that trust in him.  The word "buckler" means a shield or a defense.  Notice a cry for defense in Psalm 82:3  Defend the poor and fatherless: do justice to the afflicted and needy.  God is our defense: Psalm 59:17  Unto thee, O my strength, will I sing: for God is my defence, and the God of my mercy.

 Each day that we live things happen so near us that we are not aware most of the time that they are even present in our lives.  Cars pass by closer than we think.  We have that "near" accident and think nothing about it.  We do those little "stupid" things that no one should do, and we take all of this for granted; but we should not be so flippant about these little things.  Every time something does not happen to us, we are being helped and defended by God.  The only way something bad can happen is when our God allows it for reasons that are known only in his perfect will.

 ILLUSTRATION: Today I was driving home from taking my son to his father-in-law's house.  I drove up the hill leading to my house, and, as usual, I looked around me and occasionally into my rear-view mirror.  This time, when I looked in the mirror, to my surprise was a deer running across the road just a few feet behind my car. 

 In my mind and heart I said, "Thank you, Lord, for keeping me from hitting that deer."   How easy it would be for me to just take it for granted that I did NOT hit a deer, but this time God's presence was real with me, and I knew as well as he that this was yet another time that God was my buckler, my helper, my protector. 

 Please, Lord, help us to see.  Open my eyes that I may see those little things that you do for me.  They are wonderful and precious.