Isaiah 40:27 ESV
Why do you say, O
Jacob,
and speak, O Israel,
“My way is hidden from
the Lord,
and my right is disregarded by my God”?
Do you ever feel that God has forgotten you? Do you ever
feel like maybe the Lord went on vacation and that he isn’t really paying
attention to what is going on in your life? Do you sometimes wonder why things
are happening to you the way that they are? And, do you wonder how long your
difficult circumstances must continue? Will they go on forever?
Do you doubt God’s sovereignty over your life? Do you
question whether or not he really is in control? Do you, perhaps, even think
that God is not powerful enough to do anything about your situation?
I still remember the time in my life when I said to God, “But
God, you don’t understand!” I really believed what I said. I believed God was
powerless to do anything about my situation and that man had power over me that
God could do nothing about. And, that is because I had been severely abused as
a child, and God did not rescue me. He comforted me, but in my mind I decided
that man had power over me that God could do nothing about.
But, you say, “I would never think that!” I didn’t think I
would, either. If you had asked me if I believed God was sovereign, I would
have said, “Yes.” But, what I believed with my mind (with my intellect) did not
convince my heart and my emotions, so what came out of my mouth then revealed
what I really believed. And, that is why faith, if it is genuine, will be
proved by our actions, for our actions reveal what we truly believe.
And, this is why a lot of people take matters into their own
hands, because they truly don’t trust the Lord. They don’t trust him to meet
their needs. They don’t trust him with their difficult circumstances. And, so
they get fearful, and then they respond in fear rather than in faith, and
sometimes they do foolish things out of fear, because they are lacking in
faith.
Isaiah 40:28 ESV
Have you not known?
Have you not heard?
The Lord is the
everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He does not faint or
grow weary;
his understanding is unsearchable.
Like I said, our actions reveal what we truly believe about
God. They either reveal that we trust that God is who he says he is, or they
reveal that we don’t really believe God, even though we may think that we do.
For when we get fearful over things going on in our lives, or over what people
might do to us or might say about us, it reveals that our faith is weak, and
that we are lacking in true understanding of who God is and what he is about.
But, he is God! He created the heavens and the earth, the
sky and the sea, the sun and the moon and the stars to shine in the darkness.
He created spiders and worms and all kinds of creepy crawling things. And he
created all kinds of animals and the fish in the sea and the birds in the air.
And, he created you and me. And, he made us for a purpose, that we might bring
honor and glory and praise to him and to his name.
Even before he created the world he had a plan for our
lives. For those of us who are believers in Jesus Christ, he predestined us to
be conformed to the likeness of Jesus Christ, God the Son. Even before the ages
began, he purposed that we should be saved from our sins, by his grace, and
called to a holy calling. And, to be holy is to be set apart (unlike, different)
from this sinful world, because we are being conformed to God’s likeness.
All the days ordained for us were written in God’s book
before one of them came into being (see Psalm 139).
So, God who made us, and who called us to his purposes, had
a design for our lives even before he created the world. Thus, the God who
could do this, who is all knowing, all powerful, and who is everywhere at all
times, certainly has the power over whatever it is we are going through and, in
fact, he already has a plan for what he is going to do in our lives and through
our lives through those circumstances, too.
Isaiah 40:29-31 ESV
He gives power to the
faint,
and to him who has no might he increases
strength.
Even youths shall
faint and be weary,
and young men shall fall exhausted;
but they who wait for
the Lord shall renew their strength;
they shall mount up with wings like eagles;
they shall run and not
be weary;
they shall walk and not faint.
One thing here that we need to understand about God is that
he doesn’t promise us that we are going to have no troubles, or that we are
always going to be treated fairly, or that everyone is going to speak well of
us.
In fact, in his Word he says that we are going to be treated
like he was, like Jesus was, who is God, and who is our creator, too. He
promised us that faith in him also means suffering with him and like him, first
in death to sin and in denial of self, and then in being hated and persecuted
like he was, too.
His Word promises us that the world will not love us, but
that they will hate us, and this includes the worldly Christian, too. For who
were Jesus’ main persecutors who then put him to death on a cross? They were
those who claimed to believe in God the Father and who even taught the
scriptures and who served in positions of leadership and rulership within the
temple of God.
The Bible promises us, too, that we are going to have trials
and tribulations and troubles. We are going to go through things which will
test our faith as though by fire. And, when we go through these difficulties,
we may feel weak and tired, and we may even despair of life as Paul did. And,
we may begin to wonder how we are going to make it through another day.
Well, the encouragement here is that, if we put our trust in
the Lord, he will give us all that we need to endure whatever it is we are
going through. When we feel we have nothing left, and that we have nothing to
give, and that we can’t go on much longer with things the way that they are, he
lifts us up. He strengthens us. And, he empowers us to do more than we could
possibly ever think or imagine is possible.
He puts a new song in our mouths, and a new spring in our
steps, and somehow we are able to make it through another day, and we are able
to move forward even knowing that what awaits us is probably going to be much
like we have had already or even worse. And, this is not being pessimistic. This
is just the reality of where we are now in the world and regarding the
direction the world is headed.
But, no matter what the Lord takes us through, we must know
that he is allowing these things in our lives for his purposes, and we just
have to trust him that he knows what he is doing, because he does, because he
is God. And, we just have to wait on him to do in our lives and through our
lives what it is that he wants to accomplish through our trials. And, then he
will renew our strength so that we don’t grow weary and lose heart. Amen!
Mighty in Power
An Original Work / June 17, 2019
Jesus, our Savior, reigneth forever;
Mighty in power, His name we honor.
He’s our refuge from all evil.
God our righteous, He’s our fill.
He satisfies us with all His blessings.
We magnify Him. Our praise to Him sing.
Glory and honor, praise to the Father,
Perfect in wisdom, He is our vision.
He delivered us from all sin
So, in Christ, we’d be forgiven.
He purifies us. His love will guide us.
He is beside us, holy and righteous.
Our Holy Spirit, comfort in sorrow,
Strength in our weakness, hope for tomorrow.
He gives courage to be bold in
Witnessing for Jesus Christ.
He teaches all things about our Savior.
New life in Jesus, we found His favor.
Sunday, June 23, 2019
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