My daily devotional for today (and I have not been devoted to it for some time, I hate to admit) asks a question, a three part question.

1. Have you ever looked back over your life and realized that there were things that could have happened, bad things, but did not happen because the Lord God Intervened? My answer is yes.

2. Do you remember an accident that should have happened but didn't? My answer is yes. (see comments below)

3. Do you remember a time when a doctor gave a family member little chance of recovering from an illness but the person recovered? My answer is yes. (see comments below)

I wrote about both those things, about how I could have been killed or worse in a fiery car crash in California and about how my wife and son were both in very serious trouble when Diane was in her last few weeks of pregnancy. In both cases just like the Israelites, I can say "If the Lord had not been on our side" There are lots of things that could have happened over the years of my life, bad things if the Lord had not been on my side. I am thankful that He still is. We as a nation had better pray he still is on our side.

There is a famous question that was asked of President Lincoln during the time of the Civil War, "Sir is God on our side? The side of the Union?" and the president answered this way

"Sir, my concern is not whether God is on our side; my greatest concern is to be on God's side, for God is always right." ~ Abraham Lincoln

For all our sakes both as individuals and as a nation we best remember that answer.

Psalm 124

A song of ascents. Of David.

1 If the Lord had not been on our side—

let Israel say—

2 if the Lord had not been on our side

when people attacked us,

3 they would have swallowed us alive

when their anger flared against us;

4 the flood would have engulfed us,

the torrent would have swept over us,

5 the raging waters

would have swept us away.

6 Praise be to the Lord,

who has not let us be torn by their teeth.

7 We have escaped like a bird

from the fowler’s snare;

the snare has been broken,

and we have escaped.

8 Our help is in the name of the Lord,

the Maker of heaven and earth.

Psalm 125

A song of ascents.

1 Those who trust in the Lord are like Mount Zion,

which cannot be shaken but endures forever.

2 As the mountains surround Jerusalem,

so the Lord surrounds his people

both now and forevermore.

3 The scepter of the wicked will not remain

over the land allotted to the righteous,

for then the righteous might use

their hands to do evil.

4 Lord, do good to those who are good,

to those who are upright in heart.

5 But those who turn to crooked ways

the Lord will banish with the evildoers.

Peace be on Israel.