The God Promises Part 4Transcribed from Pastor Melissa Scott's Live Sunday Service. Deuteronomy 33:27What I like about God's Book is that the Bible confirms itself. That's why we read in Ephesians 6 'Your feet shod with the gospel of peace,' same equipping if you will, same mindset, same everything—we're on a journey. Now I take that, "Shoes of iron and brass," and go back to the playground and imagine now you're a kid swinging across those monkey bars. What a terrible analogy for some of us grown-ups wearing their shoes of iron and brass going across those monkey bars. Guaranteed you're going to fall, there's just a guarantee, the weight alone is going to probably kill you when you fall. But when you fall, and I'm trying to be funny and satirical, but the fact of the matter is when you fall, and we all do, Romans 3:23 says "All have sinned, and come short of the glory of God." I keep my prayer, "More of you God, and less of me until I reach over there." But if you're like me swinging across those monkey bars and plummeting to the ground with your shoes of iron and brass, this message is for you. Turn with me if you will to Deuteronomy 33:27. That was all background to get to here. Now I have to tell you while you're turning and spinning, I am the most blessed person because those messages, what we've called Nitro Pill messages, I read them, I listen to them and it's daily food for me. What I love about the Bible, the Bible is like a spring or well. If your soul's thirsty it never runs dry; it's always there to replenish and refresh. I've put the King James text on the board. Let's read what it says: "The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms: and he shall thrust out the enemy from before thee; and shall say, Destroy them. Israel then shall dwell in safety alone." The French translation reads C'est une retraite que Le Dieu qui est de tout tem(p)s, it's 'a retreat that the God who is of all times,' et que d'être sous les bras, 'and to be underneath His arms,' eternel car il a chassé de devant toi, 'He's chased away from before you your enemies,' tes ennemis, et il a dit extermine, I'm sure everybody can read that. You don't have to read French to know what that says, 'exterminate,' 'exterminator,' like terminator; extermine. Israel donc habitera seul surement, 'Israel will live alone surely.' The Spanish translation reads Su morada en Lo Alto y acá baxo sus brazos eternos arrojará de tu presencia al enemigo y dira, Quedate desmenuzado. Habitará Israél confiademente, y solo, basically saying the same thing, 'underneath the everlasting arms,' but here it says Lo Alto, 'of the High,' certainly meaning 'of the Most High,' but it's saying 'of the High' and there 'underneath, the arms eternal.' You've got the same sentence being said with the contrast with 'the Most High' and 'bottomless arms.' "The eternal God is thy refuge," there's another translation that reads 'as your dwelling place,' "and underneath are the everlasting arms: and he shall thrust out the enemy from before thee." There are two words being used differently: 'dwell' and 'refuge.' The Greek Septuagint reads kai skepasei se Theou arche, 'the God,' genitive, 'of the beginning,' kai hupo ischun, 'underneath,' and I love what the Greek does, 'underneath the strong,' brachionon, 'underneath the strong arms everlasting.' I like that, 'strong arms everlasting.' I didn't do that, the Septuagint did it, kai ekbalei; ek, meaning 'out,' balei, 'to throw out;' apo prosopou, 'from your face.' God's got you covered. When we get to the Hebrew, the first word reads me‛ownah. Your King James translates it 'refuge.' I want to point out the difference between 'refuge,' me‛ownah; the word toward the end of the verse, vayashakan, being translated 'to dwell;' and vayamishkan, which translates 'to tabernacle.' Me‛ownah Elohi, 'God,' notice when we normally read, we read Elohiym, this is Elohi, there's no 'm,' there's no plural, it's the singular. Elohi qedem, 'God of the front,' you may have your Bible already noted the 'God of the forefront.' "Underneath bottomless," ōlam which is being translated 'bottomless,' 'endless.' How far is bottomless? I have no idea, but you'll know when you're falling...it's going to be far down. To me it also means however far I fall, He's going to be there. I remember the first time I heard my husband speak on this passage and the first time I heard it I said "You know," forgive me, "but it reminds me of Superman." Remember how Superman managed to always be around and had a place to change? He always knew where Lois Lane was and every time she found herself in a bind he would catch her. I know that's a comic book hero, but the God we serve is real and He really does see us right where we're at. We can fall into the trap where we think our deliverance will be a certain way; when God comes in on the scene, it may not be the way we thought God would deliver us. Our ways and God's ways are not the same. He comes in to deliver, He comes in to catch, He comes in on the spot but it might be different than what we thought.
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