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February, 2026 (Vol.60-No.2) |
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Dear Wingspread Brothers, I have bad news, and I’m afraid it’s about the worst possible news I will ever have to report: My Margaret was promoted to Heaven last week – January 22, 2026 @ 9:50 PM. I won’t go into any details now, only to tell you that I am pretty much shattered and devastated. I can say that all the doctors and nurses assured me that her passing was peaceful. Guys, I just do not have it in me to write a memorial or obituary that would honor her memory sufficiently, at least not right now. That will be next month after I’ve had time to reflect and grieve more. But right now I just cannot do it. It’s very difficult to write something like that when the person you have lost was your wife, your soulmate, your complete EVERYTHING. I just ask all of you to pray for me, for Brian and Gail, and her brother Lars. Everyone is hurting right now – beyond description. We need prayer for strength, for peace, and as for me, that my faith stays strong. I do not question God’s reasons for this, but I would be less than honest if I didn’t tell you that it has been a real battle of faith the past week or so. I’ll talk with you all soon. Rodney “We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.” 2nd Corinthians 5:8  Preached by Dr. Scott on March 21, 1976 Thy shoes shall be iron and brass, and as thy days, so shall thy strength be… The Eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms… Deuteronomy 33:25-27 THE BIBLE SAYS IN 2ND CORINTHIANS 1:20, “All the promises of God in him,” that is, in Christ, “are yea, and in him Amen,” or “so be it unto you.” That means God wraps up every promise in the Bible and puts them into one package called Jesus, and He brings them nigh to us. On the day of Pentecost, Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to abide in us, to continue making the promises of God real in our lives. Now, anywhere we find a promise to God’s people in the Bible, that promise is ours to claim, in Christ. That includes all of God’s promises in the Old Testament, so please turn to Deuteronomy 33. In verse 25, Moses says to Asher, “Thy shoes shall be iron and brass…” Shoes are for walking, and God has promised us “shoes of iron and brass.” Those are tough shoes, which tells me the trip we are on is a tough one. We cannot go barefooted, and ordinary house shoes will not survive the journey. But God has promised us tough shoes for a tough trip. Christianity is not easy. I do not think I am the only one who occasionally wishes we could just float along on a feather bed or at least make our journey wearing soft shoes. Many Christians think that when you come to Christ, all of your problems will be solved in an instant, but that is not so! If you have been discouraged because the path is rocky, listen to God’s word today. It is a tough trip, both for the church and for the individual Christian; but glory to God, He gives us shoes that are tough enough to endure it. So expect it to be difficult, and know that it is never going to get any easier. However, for those who are willing to make the trip, God has given us these promises. Not only will we have shoes that last, but God has promised, “As thy days, so shall thy strength be.” Circle the word “thy.” I like the way the Bible zeroes in on you and me individually. It does not speak in generalities. It says, “As thy days.” No matter what kind of day you are having, God will give you a measure of strength exactly proportionate to your need: “As thy days, so shall thy strength be.” If you are faced with a day that requires a lot of strength to get through it, God will measure out a lot of strength. But if, by some wondrous act of grace, you get a little “R & R” and things are easier for a day or two, then He measures out only a little strength. That means you should never quit at the end of the day, no matter how tough things look. God has promised you enough strength for the day. If you feel like your strength has run out at the end of the day, go to bed and trust God to give you a new measure of strength in the morning. You might think you can’t make it through another day, but wait until tomorrow and see. Most people do not have nervous breakdowns over today’s problems: they are usually overly anxious about what might happen tomorrow. What is worrying you today? Jesus said in Matthew 6:34, “Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.” When you have reached your limit today, know that God will be there in the morning. If you can keep from quitting tonight, He will fill your cup again tomorrow. I pray that God will give these words the ability to capture the wide spectrum of His book and, like a magnifying glass capturing a sunbeam, bring it into focus right where we are. In the New Testament, God has promised that He will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able to bear, but will, with the temptation, also make a way to escape. In the original Greek, the sense is that God has already worked out a specific way of escape for every specific temptation you face. The apostle Peter says that our temptations are “manifold,” meaning they are diverse and many-colored. God sees it all, and He already knows about your specific temptation. Whatever you are facing, God backs up this promise with everything that is in Him: “As thy days, so shall thy strength be.” What else does God promise? Deuteronomy 33:27 says, “The eternal God is thy refuge…” The meaning of this phrase, in the original Hebrew, is difficult to express in English. Hebrew is an interesting language. It has a limited vocabulary, so one Hebrew word can have many meanings, and many of the words are pictorial in meaning. The Hebrew word translated “eternal” also means “front.” So we could say, “The God of the front is our refuge.” That means He is always ahead of whatever is going on, and He is never caught by surprise. This verse forces us to change the way we view time itself. We normally think of the past as being behind us, and the future as being ahead of us. But God looks at time the way we watch a parade. When you watch a parade, the people at the front of the parade pass you by, and those who are marching behind them are yet to come. From this point of view, what is up front is in the past, and what is behind is in the future! Now, change your perspective and imagine you are marching in the parade. The part of the route that is behind you is in your past, and what is yet to come is still ahead of you. What is up front is unknown and scary. But God views the whole parade, and He is also the parade leader. What is uncertain to you is not uncertain to Him. God is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. Regardless of how you look at the journey, He was there first and He will be there when it is finished. All of those concepts are embraced in this one word translated “eternal.” The Eternal God is the ever-present One; that God is your refuge. Whatever problem you face, God is already there with you. The problem with most of us is that we want God to change our circumstance rather than be our refuge in the circumstance. We want Him to take us out of a place rather than be with us in the place. But it doesn’t matter what we want. I might prefer to wear house shoes, but it takes iron and brass shoes to make the trip. God gives me tough shoes instead of removing the necessity of the trip. The prophet Elijah faced a difficult circumstance, but God provided him what he needed to get through it. In the midst of a drought, God sent him to live in the house of a poor widow in Zarephath, where He provided them with food and oil each day. If I were Elijah, I might have wished God would provide a whole barrel of oil in advance. Then I could be assured I would have oil in the morning, just in case God didn’t renew it. But God has only promised to provide what we need for each day; He did not say we would be made to feel secure at the end of the day. I have to count on the same God who gave me strength today to be there to give me strength tomorrow. I might want a refuge from the storm, but God is my refuge in the storm. Isaiah 42:5-6 says, “Thus saith God the LORD, he that created the heavens, and stretched them out; he that spread forth the earth, and that which cometh out of it; he that giveth breath unto the people upon it, and spirit to them that walk therein: I the LORD have called thee in righteousness, and will hold thine hand…” We read in Isaiah 43, starting at verse 2, “When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee…” God does not say you will go around the waters or over them, but through them. The verse continues, “And through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee.” Why? “For I am the LORD thy God…thy Saviour…” He is the eternal God. As our strength wanes, the enemy of our soul will come along and bring confusion and fear. We know that God is not the author of confusion or fear. If we are faced with circumstances that overpower us, and we don’t know where to turn, we can claim the promise of Psalm 139, “O LORD…thou knowest.” And we can claim the promise that the God of the front, the everlasting Eternal One, is our refuge. This church heralds the message of faith; we run up a flag declaring we are people of faith. May God give us the mark that characterized the New Testament Christians. Nothing could dim their faith. Paul and Silas were beaten up and thrown into prison in Philippi. Yet, in the middle of the night, with no earthly hope of deliverance, they sang hymns of praise of God. They were in the darkest part of the prison, surrounded by other prisoners, with no light and only the very little air that seeped in. How could they sing a song in the night? Because God promised He would be with them. So why not turn from your circumstances and look to Him? We have these promises: “Thy shoes shall be iron and brass.” It might look like we won’t make it, but we will. “As thy days, so shall thy strength be.” When our strength is gone, and we have used up what God measured out to us and are empty by day’s end, just wait until tomorrow. And “The eternal God is thy refuge.” When it looks dark, the Eternal God is there in the dark with you. Therefore, don’t doubt in the dark what God told you in the light. The promise in Deuteronomy 33:27 continues, “And underneath are the everlasting arms…” Imagine a bottomless pit, which in and of itself boggles the mind. Now imagine, though it is a contradiction of terms, that you could find the bottom of that bottomless pit. The promise is that God’s arms are underneath that. That means you will never sink so low or fall so far that God cannot reach you. He is not only the God of the front, He is the God of the bottom. Will you focus on God and His word instead of on the pressures that surround you? I am going to stop saying, “We are going to make it” and start saying, “We are making it!” The Eternal God is our refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms. If you are worried because you have made mistakes, God is an expert at picking people up again. Galatians 6:1 says, “If a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one…” If you have fallen down, stop looking at the depth of your pit and start looking to Him. This promise is for sinners, the broken ones, the self-condemned, you that feel no one will reach down to help you. God already has! Underneath are the everlasting arms. When you are falling, and even when you are not, His arms are already there waiting to catch you. Deuteronomy 33:27 goes on to say, “He shall thrust out the enemy from before thee…” Hallelujah! Verse 29 says, “Happy art thou, O Israel: who is like unto thee, O people saved by the LORD…” That is the key: we are saved by the Lord. The problem with many of us is that we want to do it ourselves, and we just keep struggling in our own effort until He breaks us. The promise is “Happy art thou…O people saved by the LORD.” Paul said, “I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain.” Like Paul, I know I cannot carry the load of this church or save anyone; but the Eternal God, the One with the everlasting arms, and the Giver of strength, will do it. When the battle is over, we too can sing, “Happy art thou…O people saved by the LORD.” Who is the Lord? He is “the shield of thy help” and “the sword of thy excellency!” Now hear it, everybody, “Thine enemies shall be found liars unto thee; and thou shalt tread upon their high places.” Glory be to God! Reprinted with permission from Pastor Melissa Scott | Return Home | Current Wingspread | Wingspread Archives | Contact Us | |
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