Be strong and courageous. Do not fear or be in dread of them, for it is the LORD you God who goes with you. He will not leave you or forsake you.  Deuteronomy 31:6  ESV

Fear not, for I am with you, be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous hand.  Isaiah 41:10  ESV

Okay, so I know I am telling my age, but as a kid I used to love to watch The Lone Ranger. Now as I loosely remember, The Lone Ranger was one of several Texas Rangers that were ambushed. He was the only survivor. He was nursed back to health by Tonto and together the two of them fought injustice throughout the land. When people needed them, they just turned up and of course once the people were out of danger, they rode off into the sunset. Now while The Lone Ranger was the one remaining Texas Ranger in the story, he wasn’t really alone. He had Tonto by his side.

When working probation and parole, I had The Lone Ranger theme song as my ringtone. I often worked desolate areas and even though I had a number of offenders in the area, I knew backup would take a long time to get there. But praise God we always have Him for our backup and quite frankly, what more do we need? We know that He will protect us and that He will send help to us as needed.

Sometimes life leaves us feeling as though our backup is hundreds of miles away and as though we must go it all alone. I used two scripture passages today, because the first one tells us that God will never leave us nor forsake us. If you are feeling like your are fighting a battle all on your own, know that God is there.

I used the second scripture passage, from Isaiah, to remind us that not only is God always there for us, but He is there to strengthen us. He is there to hold us up when we feel as though we will surely fall. There are plenty of times lately when I need God’s righteous hand to hold me up. I need His strength to get through the day.

A couple days ago, we talked about being in survival mode and I ended my blog with saying that God not only wants us to survive, but to thrive. He wants us to not only live, but to have an abundant life (John 10:10). The devil can rob us of our peace and joy when he can convince us that we are all alone. If he can convince us that no one cares what we are going through, he can use this to distract us. But we must remember that the devil is a liar.  John 8:44 tells us that he is not only a liar, but the father of liars. He will try to convince you that no one cares. He will try to make you feel as though you are all alone with no help in sight. But don’t believe him.

Know that God is just a call away. Cry out to Him and give it over to Him. He is a good, good Father. He is there for you and He wants to help you. So, if you are feeling lost and all alone, remember our scripture passages for today. Know that He is right there with you and He will strengthen you and uphold you with His righteous hand. Know that you have no reason to fear. Be strong and be courageous!

Just as Tonto was there for The Lone Ranger, Jesus is there for us. Our backup is always right there with us. Won’t you trust in Him today? And remember, you are never alone.

Have a great day!