HELD IN HIS MIGHTY ARMS

        "The eternal God is your Refuge and underneath are the everlasting arms."  Deuteronomy 33:27.   "The arms of the wicked shall be broken, but the Lord upholds the righteous"  Psalm 37:17.  Possibly you have good memories of being held in the arms of a parent.  It was a place of comfort and safety, a secure retreat from the cares of your world.  Now in my senior years I often wish that I could again escape to those arms of love and protection of my parents.  But believers do have the everlasting arms of God which are always there to protect and comfort us.  Now we know God is spirit and doesn't have arms as we do. However, the imagery is used in Scripture to convey the idea of His limitless power.  One who believed and experienced this was Winfield Macomber (1865-1896).  He came to Christ at age 16, then worked distributing materials for the American Bible Society. In 1890, he enrolled at the New York Missionary Training Institute (later renamed Nyack College), and in 1892 went to the Congo for the International Missionary Alliance. He returned to America a year later for health reasons, and in 1894 began teaching the Congolese language at his alma mater. He compiled an English-Fioti grammar and dictionary for use by missionaries, and, in 1896, he returned to missionary work in the Congo. But once again, ill health forced his departure but he never made it back to America.  He died in Portugal at the age of forty-one.  His was a short life, but one of lasting influence. And he was safe in God's keeping until his work here was done and then he was lifted to his heavenly rest in the Lord's loving arms. But he left behind a hymn which may have been his testimony.  "Oh! what wonderful, wonderful rest! trusting completely in Jesus I'm blest. Sweetly He comforts and shields from alarms, holding me safe in His mighty arms."  If today you are facing difficult challenges in your life, then flee to His almighty, everlasting arms and experience the rest and comfort which is there for you.

1.    Safe is my refuge, sweet is my rest,

Ill cannot harm me, nor foes e'er molest;

Jesus my spirit so tenderly calms,

Holding me close in His mighty arms.

Refrain

Oh! what wonderful, wonderful rest!

Trusting completely in Jesus I'm blest;

Sweetly He comforts and shields from alarms,

Holding me safe in His mighty arms.

2.    Pressing my tear stained cheek to His own,

Hushing my grief with His sweet gentle tone;

Touching my heart with His healing balms,

Holding me still in His mighty arms. 

Refrain

Oh! what wonderful, wonderful rest!

Trusting completely in Jesus I'm blest;

Sweetly He comforts and shields from alarms,

Holding me safe in His mighty arms.

3.    Tempests may rage, sin's surges may beat,

Ne'er can they reach my sheltered retreat;

Free from all danger, from dread alarms,

Resting so safe in His mighty arms.

Refrain

Oh! what wonderful, wonderful rest!

Trusting completely in Jesus I'm blest;

Sweetly He comforts and shields from alarms,

Holding me safe in His mighty arms.

Listen to it here.   ARMS