Here is an arm that can never be broken!

“The eternal God is your refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms!” (Deuteronomy 33:27)

There are some wonderful thoughts that come to mind when we think about God’s embracing arm.

One thought is protection. A father puts his arm around his child when it is in danger. In the same way, God protects His children. Temptations beset us on every hand. Many people think of dying with dread, fearing to meet it. But life has far more perils than death! It is easy to die, when one has truly lived for Christ; it is only entering into eternal joy and blessedness. But it is much harder to live. At every point, there are perils. We need protection, and here we have it: “The eternal God is your refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms!”

Another suggestion is affection. The father’s arm around the child means love. The child is held in the bosom, near the heart. John lay on Christ’s bosom. The shepherd gathers the lambs with his arms and carries them in his bosom. This picture of the Lord embracing His children with His arm tells of His love for them. It tells of the closeness of the relationship that exists between them. The bosom is the children’s place.

There is yet a tenderer phase of the thought here. It is especially in the time of danger or suffering, that the mother carries the child in her arms. She takes them up when they have fallen and hurt themselves, and comforts them by enfolding them in her arms. When they are sick, she presses them to her bosom.

Here we have here a picture of the special sympathy and tenderness of our heavenly Father for His children when they are in pain or in trouble. This is one of the blessings of suffering – it gets us to the inner place of Divine affection, nearest to the Father’s heart! God draws us nearest when we are in trouble or in pain.

The arm is also the symbol of strength. A mother’s arm may be physically frail, but love makes it strong. The arm of God is strong, for it is omnipotent. It supports the whole universe! When that Divine arm encircles one of His feeble children, all the power of the universe cannot tear it away!

Every true human friend is more or less a strength to us. Yet the finest, securest human strength is only a little fragment of the Divine strength. “Trust in the Lord always, for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength” (Isaiah 26:4). This is omnipotence! Here is an arm that can never be broken; and out of its clasp, we can never be torn!

Another thought concerning the everlasting arms is endurance. There might be protection, affection, and strength; and yet the blessings might not last. We have all these in human love; but human arms grow weary, even in love’s embrace. But the arms of God are everlasting. They shall never grow weary. It is everlastingness which is the highest blessedness of Divine affection and care!

Here is something that lasts; it knows no separation, and it never unclasps. The arms of God are everlasting. Neither death nor life can separate us from them. The mountains shall depart, crumble, and vanish; but God’s kindness shall never depart from His beloved sons and daughters!

There is a very sacred thought in the word underneath. The arms of the Lord are underneath His children, and none can sink out of His embrace! The waves of sorrow are very deep, but underneath the deepest floods are the everlasting arms. We cannot sink below them. If we lie down in sickness, the everlasting arms are underneath us. If human friendships are stripped off, and we stand alone in our bereavement, still we are not alone. Underneath are the everlasting arms! God remains — and God suffices.

Then, when death comes, and every earthly thing is gone from beneath us, and every hand unclasps from ours, and every face of love fades from our eyes, and we sink away into what seems darkness – it will be only into the everlasting arms! To every true Christian, death is only departing from earth’s weariness and pain, to forever nest in the bosom of Jesus.

If we realized that the eternal God is our refuge, and that the everlasting arms are truly underneath us – our joy would not fluctuate as it does, nor would our zeal be so sporadic. We need a deeper repose in Christ, and a more trustful settling down upon Him and upon His atoning work. Then nothing could disturb our confidence, nothing could chill our ardor, and nothing could hinder our consecration. Then we would rejoice in sorrow, we would be victorious in temptation, and we would be Christ-like and strong in all of life!

God bless you and your family, this day and always.

All for our King’s glory,
Christian

photo by Comerfjc  |  Lightstock.com

This post is another installment of Miller’s Monday Musings, a weekly series that is published every Monday on my website. The series features selected writings that have been adapted from the works of James Russell Miller (1840-1912), a much-beloved Christian author and pastor who is well-remembered for his practical thoughts on Christian home and family life. Learn more about this weekly series by clicking here.