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Plan
Do you have an ace in the hole? That's a colloquialism that refers to a secret plan, power or program that will help you through a troubling situation.
Most people keep an ace in the hole. Sometimes its a well connected or financed friend that can help them in times of peril. Sometimes its a family member who is always there in a time of need. Many have found that when they were sinking and turned to the ace they thought was doing well, their ace was in the hole too. Some rely on their political connections, others lean heavy on their ties to the business world and financial institutions. When some are in real trouble they run to lawyers, counselors and advisors, seeking a way out.
Friends, counselors, doctors and lawyers are important contacts when we seek help, but none of them can really save us when we are in trouble. At best, they can bail us out temporarily, but they offer little help toward really being saved.
In Biblical times, Israel often counted on its alliances with other countries for its security. In some cases, it even rejected God's help counting on its allies to help to see it through. Isaiah 8 gives us an amazing account in which a King of Israel refused God's help, counting on his ace in the hole. God offered this King and the world at large His universal sign of a true deliverer in verse 14 by saying Therefore the Lord Himself shall give you a sign, behold a virgin shall conceive and bear a son and shall call His name Emmanuel.
Today the world, as in biblical times, counts heavily upon their alliances with each other and depend on their united strength to serve as the ace in the hole that will bring victory.
As the world turns its attention to the Christmas season, perhaps it will be reminded that true peace will not come from the power of the sword and spilling of blood. True peace cannot come from the efforts of man at all, but always comes through the power of God.
As Christians, we are reminded that in times of peril, distress and war, we have an ace in the hole, a Savior, a deliverer who is Jesus Christ our Lord.