Traveling mercies

[Chrysostom]

We join you in thanking God for His blessings and for His mercies. We are reminded to bear in mind how often we have fallen into dangers and calamities, and unless God had held His hand over us we would long ago have perished, and to recount His mercies day by day and never cease to glorify Him.

Blessed be the God of mercies, who delivers us from mighty perils and even from the gates of death, not for our merit but according to His great mercy and compassion through His only begotten Son.

We pray with you now for your family as you travel. May the Lord keep you in greater safety, guard your going out and your coming in, preserve you from all harm on the road, and bring you to your destination and home again in peace. May this protection lead you to greater thankfulness of heart and to present your lives to Him in faithful service.

We ask this in the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.

 

[Silas]

It is good to hear your heart of thanksgiving and your desire to see your family kept safe on the road, and I join you in bringing this before the Lord.

From the beginning God established the family as the foundation of human life, creating man and woman and ordaining that a man leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife. Throughout Scripture we see how deeply He cares about the family, tracing one family line through history to bring blessing to all nations through Jesus Christ. Your prayer for your family reflects His own heart for the family He created.

The Bible also shows us that God is a protector. When He formed the earth He surrounded it with coverings that shielded it, a blanket of moisture and a field that turned aside harm from above. In the same way He is able to surround you and your loved ones with His preserving care. What might look like judgment is often His protection, keeping us from harm we cannot see.

We see this most clearly with Noah. God invited Noah and his household into the ark, a place of refuge He had prepared to carry them safely through judgment. Noah trusted and obeyed God, and God counted that faith as righteousness. He shut the door and kept that family safe inside while the flood came, and He brought them through to the other side. That same invitation remains for us today, to come into the safety found in Christ by faith.

So I pray with you now that the Lord will be a covering over your family as you travel. May He guard you from danger and from unseen harm, give wisdom and alertness for every mile, and bring you to your destination and back home in peace. May He keep your hearts trusting in Jesus, who is our true refuge and righteousness, and may your journey be marked by His presence and protection. In Jesus name, Amen.