You and I have been the beneficiaries of the greatest act of preemption in the history of mankind. Before we were ever born, The Father had not only provided atonement for our sin, but was keeping us until that day of salvation. If you know Jesus Christ as your personal Savior, then reading the following Scripture should make you shout and praise. If you don’t know Him, then you should ponder this verse with humility and appreciate the fact that the only reason you are still alive and not burning in hell is by the mercy of God. "I will extol You, O LORD, for You have lifted me up, and have not let my foes rejoice over me. O LORD my God, I cried out to You, and You healed me. O LORD, You brought my soul up from the grave; You have kept me alive, that I should not go down to the pit." (Ps. 30:1-3)

A couple of years ago, the Lord showed me a vision of myself that brought this truth to light: I saw myself lying on the floor of a bathroom stall––it was a public restroom at the racetrack at which I used to work. This washroom was a convenient place for me to go and take a hit of cocaine before I had to get on my next horse. There in the midst of the filth lay my drug overdosed dead body. As I looked down on my lifeless frame, I saw two rugged hands begin to pump my chest. I immediately knew it was the Lord. I saw my body respond and I came back to life. As the vision faded, the Lord reminded me of a prayer I would say every time I felt like my heart was going to explode from drug use. I would ask the Lord (whom I did not know at the time) to please not let me die while doing cocaine.

Now, as I drove to church, the Lord reminded me that it was He who kept me alive so many times in that bathroom stall. "O LORD, You brought my soul up from the grave; You have kept me alive, that I should not go down to the pit."

Every single one of us is being kept alive by the merciful hands of a loving God. Whether we know Him or not, in His infinite grace, mercy and patience, He has kept us from going to the pit that we all deserve. At Christmas, those of us that recognize this fact celebrate the birth of His magnificent Son, whom the Father used as the instrument of this awesome salvation. However, though you and I can point to Christmas day as the time of Jesus birth, His provision for salvation was the result of the greatest preemptive strike ever. "Knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conducts, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. He indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you" (1 Pet. 1: 18-20)

Long before our President came up with his idea for preemptive strikes upon our terrorist enemies, the Lord of Hosts dealt His preemptive blow against the terrorist of mankind by slaying His Son and offering Him as the means of our redemption. "All who dwell on the earth will worship Him, the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world." (Rev. 13:8) Adam’s sin did not catch God by surprise. Our heavenly Father initiated our redemption by providing for it long before Adam ever sinned. Today, this same wonderful God is still keeping us all.

Recently, my brother called to share this testimony: He was laying down when he heard his five-year-old daughter calling for her mother. She happened to be on the phone, so my brother got up and told his daughter  "mommy is on the phone". As he went back to bed, he got the violent impression to get up and go to the balcony. There, unbeknownst to his wife, was his daughter jumping up and down on a chair right beside the railing of the balcony. You can imagine my brother’s horror when he saw this, since he lives on the 17th floor of a Florida high rise. He immediately rushed to his daughter and got her down from the chair. After some serious discussion, he went back to his room where he spent the night weeping and thanking God for His merciful protection. "Surely O LORD, You brought my soul up from the grave; You have kept me alive, that I should not go down to the pit." As my brother put it, "I couldn’t stay on that bed if I wanted to. It was as though someone grabbed me by the chest and pulled me up."

This is the kind of preemptive God we serve. Yes, we celebrate December 25th and rightly so, but our God is a 24-7 "before the foundation of the Earth" God. He has been looking out for you long before you looked for Him, and even today, you are being kept from dangers, sickness, and harm of which you do not know. Let us be grateful this Christmas, not only for the things we know He’s done, but for the things we don’t know. Merry Christmas.