Go Ahead, Make My Day!

For he will deliver you from the snare of the fowler and from the deadly pestilence. He will cover you with his pinions, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness is a shield and buckler. You will not fear the terror of the night, nor the arrow that flies by day, nor the pestilence that stalks in darkness, nor the destruction that wastes at noonday. (Psalm 91:3-6 ESV). Clint Eastwood, playing the character of Dirty Harry, once said as he threatened a criminal with being shot, “Go ahead, make my day!” He wasn’t the least bit afraid of what that criminal would do. I wonder how many Christians could look their enemy in the eye and have no fear. Fear is often an overwhelming emotion that takes hold of us and causes us to act with complete irrationality. Much of the time, we can be more devastated by fear than by the thing we are afraid of. But God says that we don't have to be afraid. He is always with us. Paul Harvey shared the following story illustrating courage. “One summer morning as Ray Blankenship was preparing his breakfast, he gazed out the window, and saw a small girl being swept along in the rain-flooded drainage ditch beside his Andover, Ohio, home. Blankenship knew that farther downstream, the ditch disappeared with a roar underneath a road and then emptied into the main culvert. Ray dashed out the door and raced along the ditch, trying to get ahead of the floundering child. Then he hurled himself into the deep, churning water. Blankenship surfaced and was able to grab the child’s arm. They tumbled end over end. Within about three feet of the yawning culvert, Ray’s free hand felt something—possibly a rock—protruding from one bank. He clung desperately, but the tremendous force of the water tried to tear him and the child away. “If I can just hang on until help comes,” he thought. He did better than that. By the time fire-department rescuers arrived, Blankenship had pulled the girl to safety. Both were treated for shock. On April 12, 1989, Ray Blankenship was awarded the Coast Guard’s Silver Lifesaving Medal. The award is fitting, for this selfless person was at even greater risk to himself than most people knew. Ray Blankenship can’t swim.” Adrian Rogers tells about the man who bragged that he had cut off the tail of a man-eating lion with his pocket knife. Asked why he hadn’t cut off the lion’s head, the man replied: “Someone had already done that.” Well, Jesus has already cut the head off our enemy! When look at a frightening world we can have courage. Not because of who we are, but because God is with us. His truth is our shield. He is there to guide us and protect us.