Tag: start over

God says to the anxious and panic-stricken heart, “Be strong, fear not!” Do I believe Him?


Encourage the exhausted, and make staggering knees firm.

Say to those with an anxious and panic-stricken heart,
“Be strong, fear not!” (Isaiah 34:3,4).

“I don’t feel strong,” we might say.

“Fear not!” The Bible tells us with an exclamation point.

Indeed, your God will come with vengeance [for the ungodly];
The retribution of God will come,
But He will save you.”

The eyes of the blind will be opened
And the ears of the deaf will be unstopped . . .

These are words of hope. The Bible is the Good News to those who believe. But when I look left and right I see chaos and violence. How about you. We must fight to look up and believe God:

A highway will be there, and a roadway;
And it will be called the Holy Way.
The unclean will not travel in it, But it will be for those who walk on the way [the redeemed];
And fools will not wander on it . . . (Is. 34).

How offensive this might sound to the natural ear, mind, and heart. But those who have tasted and seen the goodness and forgiveness of the Lord in His willingness to take all our sin on the cross, we’re reminded time and again,

“This is all my righteousness, nothing but the blood of Jesus.”

But just as winter turns to spring, work must be done:

Sow righteousness for yourselves,
    reap the fruit of unfailing love,
and break up your unplowed ground;
    for it is time to seek the Lord,
until he comes
    and showers his righteousness on you Hosea 10:12.

It’s time to return.

And the ransomed of the LORD will return . . .
They will find joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing will flee away Isaiah 34: 3-5,8, 10, Amplified.

My open Bible changes me. It is true as Psalm 19: 7 proclaims:

The law of the Lord is perfect,
    reviving the soul; (Psalm 19).

I’ve found revival for my weary soul in only a short reminder in God’s Word. Is anyone else being revived in the process of turning to the Lord in His Word for help?

The testimony of the Lord is sure,
    making wise the simple; 

But I wrestle with God. “What about this? How is this going to work out? What am I supposed to do?

Do we wrestle with God? Yes. We’re broken. We have stories and testimonies in our Bible pages of this.

But God never changes. He’s the same, yesterday, and forever. We can grow to trust Him more if we spend time with Him:

The precepts of the Lord are right,
    rejoicing the heart;
the commandment of the Lord is pure,
    enlightening the eyes;
the fear of the Lord is clean,
    enduring forever;
the rules of the Lord are true,
    and righteous altogether Psalm 19: 7-9.

If this is what God says will bring rejoicing in my heart, then I will seek Him now, with my whole heart . . .

join me in this need to know Him more?

“Dear Lord, we believe. Help our unbelief!”

A New Day to Trust and Obey, Again

The past is the seasoned instruction manual.

Today is here. We often start well, and then, well . . . the night often takes away our song.

But the Word is good news to the weary soul. God’s love is higher than man’s. His love is steadfast with mercies that never end: 

“The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases;
his mercies never come to an end;
they are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness”Lamentations 3:22,23.

When our desire is to believe God greater, and know Him with more depth of understanding, seek Him with thirst and hunger, and experience His blessing,

are we surprised when we find ourselves, “poor in spirit,” or in a place of mourning? What did Jesus tell the multitudes on the hill that day? What is Jesus telling me, this day . . . Matthew 5, in a New Living Translation: 

“One day as he saw the crowds gathering, Jesus went up on the mountainside and sat down. His disciples gathered around him, and he began to teach them.”
 
(This day, I join an ancient crowd that gathered. Today, I ask God to help me hear what the Spirit says to me. Join me?)
 
“God blesses those who are poor and realize their need for him,
for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs.
 
God blesses those who mourn,
for they will be comforted.
 
God blesses those who are humble,
for they will inherit the whole earth.
 
God blesses those who hunger and thirst for justice,
for they will be satisfied.
 
God blesses those who are merciful,
for they will be shown mercy.
 
God blesses those whose hearts are pure,
for they will see God.
 
God blesses those who work for peace,
for they will be called the children of God.
 
God blesses those who are persecuted for doing right,
for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs”  Matthew 5: 1-10.

 

We pray for His kingdom to come. We ask for mercy, comfort, vision.

But what of our hearts? The old hymn reminds us to sing:

When we walk with the Lord in the light of His Word,
What a glory He sheds on our way!
While we do His good will, He abides with us still,
And with all who will trust and obey.

Trust and obey, for there’s no other way
To be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey.

But it’s not all sunshine and roses. The thorns line the stem of the flower’s glorious face. Jeremiah was a prophet of God. He did the good will of God and . . . wrote of his experience:

I am the man who has seen affliction
    by the rod of the Lord’s wrath.
He has driven me away and made me walk
    in darkness rather than light;
 indeed, he has turned his hand against me
    again and again, all day long.

 He has made my skin and my flesh grow old
    and has broken my bones.
 He has besieged me and surrounded me
    with bitterness and hardship.
 He has made me dwell in darkness
    like those long dead Jeremiah 3:1-6.

The desperate story continues, but something happens in the reading. All of a sudden, I can see more than Jeremiah and my own loss and toils, I see Jesus. Yes, He is the One I see . . .

 

He drew his bow
    and made me the target for his arrows.

 He pierced my heart
    with arrows from his quiver.

 I became the laughingstock of all my people;
    they mock me in song all day long.


 He has filled me with bitter herbs
    and given me gall to drink. Jeremiah 3:12-15.

If Jeremiah can remember the faithfulness of God through the hardship, and I see Jesus through the Word, how He suffered for me, and died for my shame, yet rose that I might have victory,

then the song, Trust and Obey now makes full sense. Yes, I can sing of His steadfast love because Jesus satisfied all that’s required of me.

“It is finished,” He said. I believe this today. Today, I’m complete, and my heart sings with greater understanding: 

But we never can prove the delights of His love
Until all on the altar we lay;
For the favor He shows, for the joy He bestows,
Are for them who will trust and obey.

Today, I lay it all on the altar. And ask that He give me grace to trust and obey. And let us grow in our faith, as we sing along the way: 

Not a shadow can rise, not a cloud in the skies,
But His smile quickly drives it away;
Not a doubt or a fear, not a sigh or a tear,
Can abide while we trust and obey.

Not a burden we bear, not a sorrow we share,
But our toil He doth richly repay;
Not a grief or a loss, not a frown or a cross,
But is blessed if we trust and obey.

He is our hope, today, yesterday, forever.

In Jesus, we can be made new, even right now: “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” 1 Corinthians 5:17.

Trust and obey, for there’s no other way
To be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey.