Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.
Joshua 1:9
Joshua 1:9
I have spent the last few weeks in Ezekiel 37 as I looked at the story of the valley of dry bones. As I said last week, various things were coming to my attention through this story and I have felt the need to share them. Last week, I looked at the process God sometimes takes us through as we go through various seasons in our lives. We would like some things to happen right away but the process is important as there are things God wants us to learn during the process. At the end of this story in Ezekiel 37, an army of men has been created out of these bones and as the breath of life is breathed into them, they stand on their feet. What comes to my mind is the reality that God does not simply create a band of men. They are described as “an exceedingly great army” (Ezekiel 37:10). According to Strongs Concordance the word “army” denotes: “man of valor, force, strength, virtuous, worthy, riches, wealth, etc. As I look at this string of words, I see a contrast. Moments before we are told about a valley filled with dry bones. It was a valley of death and no hope lived there. Now it is filled with a mighty army, a group of men of strength, virtue, worth, wealth. God did not just give life to these dry bones, he deposited worth and value into them! He gave them purpose. They were no longer a tangled mess of dry useless bones, but an army energized with purpose and worth! On top of that, He removed their shame. They had not even received a proper burial but had been left in the hot sun where every hope of life and a future had been drawn out of them. God had now infused worth and value into them and also given them the ability to survive and thrive. Here’s the thing - when God restores you, He will make you better than you were before! When He breathes life back into your situation - your marriage, your family, your finances, your health, etc. - He will make it even better than before. I think about the stories of Jesus’ miracles in the New Testament. Every one of those people He healed or delivered were living a below standard life before He touched them. When they came into contact with Him, not only did He heal and deliver them, but I am sure their lives overall were better than they were before. He gave them hope, value, worth and a future they could look forward to. The woman with the issue of blood could once again lift her head in society because Jesus restored her worth and value (Mark 5:25-34). When Blind Bartimaeus received his sight, he no longer had to wear his cloak, a symbol of his old way of life of being blind and a beggar (Mark 10:46-52). Jesus restored his worth and value. Each person Jesus healed was delivered from their shame and bondage. Jesus made their life better than it was before! And God wants to do the same for us today. Here's another thing. In that valley of dry bones, God worked with what He had - dry bones. He went on to add what was needed - flesh, sinews, skin, breath. If you give God the little that you have, He will add everything else you need and so increase your worth and value. God knows what you need, even when you don’t. So, my encouragement to you is to give God the little that you have, no matter how little and insignificant it may seem. Remember, God sees what we can’t and He knows what we don’t. We see our present, pitiful, limited, hopeless state. God sees the bright, enriched future that He has in store for us. And as if that were not enough, He knows exactly what to do to make it all a reality - even when we don’t. He also has the resources needed to bring it all to pass. God is truly an awesome God! If you have not accepted Jesus Christ into your life as your personal Lord and Saviour, I invite you to make that step today. God, our Creator knows exactly how to fix what is broken and to give it the value and worth needed to successfully live this life. God never leaves us undone and never does a halfway job. God always does a complete work. Trust Him today.
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There is so much coming to me out of this story of the valley of dry bones. Last week I spoke about being careful what we speak over our situation. The Lord told Ezekiel to speak the Word of the Lord over the dry bones because God still had a future for those bones, He still had a plan for them and He was going to be the one to bring His plan to pass. As soon as Ezekiel spoke what God told him to speak over those bones, things began to happen. God began to put those bones together piece by piece. But He didn’t stop there. He then put flesh on them and finally skin over their flesh. But before all of this took place, something noteworthy happened - there was a rattling sound. This valley of bones did not come together just like that. There was first an indication that something was about to happen. I am reminded here of the story of Elijah and the drought that Israel faced in 1 Kings 18:41-45. The prophet Elijah announced to king Ahab that rain was about to finally come. After that he sent his servant to look for signs of rain. Six times he sent him but his servant saw nothing. The seventh time he saw a cloud the size of a man’s hand rising out of the sea (v.44). At this point he sent his servant to let king Ahab know that the rain was about to come. Sometimes, while we wait, we need to be aware of the little signs and indications God is sending our way to announce what He is about to do. We can become so focused at times on the end result that we miss the little things, even the small miracles that God is doing along the way. Maybe He wants us to be thankful every step of the way even when we don’t yet see our final breakthrough. At the end of the day, I believe God is a God of process. He does things for us step by step because I think He is more concerned about the lessons we can learn while going through. It would be so nice for Him to bring us to the finish line in one step but He rarely does that. We have to run our race and face everything that comes our way during the race. In the case of the bones, God did not just create an army. He took His time to put each man together bit by bit. First, He brought the bones together, gathering each man’s bones from the mixed up heap. He then put the sinews or tendons in place to join muscle to bone, then the flesh and finally the skin to cover over everything. Yet, that was not the end. They each had a body but there was no breath in them (v.8). God then instructed Ezekiel to prophesy to the four winds to breathe the breath of life into the men (v.9). When this was done, this mighty army of men stood on their feet. They were ready for battle! It is so important to be patient while God works. We would love for things to work out all at once, but that rarely happens. God chooses to take His time. He wants to fix everything that needs fixing, He wants to make sure that everything is properly in its place. And think about this as well - each person received individual attention from God and at the same time. God is capable of dealing with a whole bunch of problems at the same time, yet still pay individual, loving attention to EACH one. Only God! Never think that God is too busy with someone else to help you, or that your problem is not as important or that you are not as important as someone else. God loves each one of us and sees and treats each one of us with importance and honour! If you have not yet accepted Jesus Christ into your life as your personal Lord and Saviour, I encourage you to do so today. Never think that you are not important to God. He is concerned about us individually and is interested in fixing everything in our lives that require His attention. He is a thorough God and is quite capable of bringing to pass His purpose for our lives in His own way and timing. Last week I started looking at the story of the dry bones in Ezekiel 37:1-10. It was a place of hopelessness and despair where Ezekiel had to acknowledge that only God could do the impossible there. The interesting thing is that after Ezekiel turns to God for the answer to this hopeless situation, God’s first instruction to him is to “speak” to the bones. Here is the reality, these bones have no life in them. In fact, they are dry which suggests that there isn’t any hope that life could ever return. On top of that, as I mentioned last week, they are a disconnected mess. No bone is attached to or even near a body to which it might belong. Yet, He tells the prophet to “prophesy to these bones…” (Ezekiel 37:4) I decided to look up the word “prophesy” and it simply means to “say that (a specified thing) will happen in the future.” God wanted him to speak to something that had no future!!! Last year, after suffering a mild heart attack, I honestly felt that I had no future. I found it difficult to see myself back in my church and back on my job. I was honest with God about how I felt yet God directed me to do something specific: I had to see myself, in faith, back in church and back on my job and I had to declare it!!! Was that easy? NO! But I did it in faith. I chose to see it in mind and I chose to speak it. Additionally, God reminded me of a verse He had given me at the start of the year: “For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future” (Jeremiah 29:11). God was going to be the One to give me a future when I could not see it. In fact, He is my hope and my future and that was never so clear to me as when I went through that challenge. How many of us have been through situations that felt so hopeless we couldn’t even see past it, we couldn’t see ourselves making it, we couldn’t see any good coming out of it? Maybe some of us are going through that now. I am reminded of Jairus. He asked Jesus to come to his house because his daughter was dying. Jesus did not get there on time and Jairus lost hope. His daughter’s future had ended – or so it seemed. Jesus’ response to her death was simple: “Do not be afraid, only believe” (Mark 5:36). Jesus saw the future that Jairus could not see. When Jairus believed it was over, Jesus knew that it was not. Maybe that’s what God is saying to someone today. It’s not over, there is still a future! But my story for today isn’t over either! God told Ezekiel to say something specific: “O dry bones, hear the Word of the Lord!” (v.4) Those bones were not going to come to life on the words of Ezekiel but on the Words of the Lord! God’s Word is alive! We speak words and don’t always back them up with our actions. God speaks His Word and actions follow. When we look at the creation in Genesis, from verse 3 to verse 29 there is a recurring line “Then God said…” and whatever God said, He did! God doesn’t speak idle, empty words like we do. When He speaks, He does what He has to do to back up His Words with action. We have to be careful with the words we speak when we are going through challenges. Sometimes, we speak our own words of frustration, anger or fear but they don’t line up with God’s Words about our situation. We speak what we see in our present, God speaks what He sees in our future. God wanted to give those bones a future. God wanted to give Israel a future. God wants to give you a future, not just a future but the hope that there is a future just for you. I don’t know what your situation is, but God does and to someone He is saying to you in your valley of dry bones, you still have a future! It wasn’t over for those dry bones and it’s not over for you. Listen to the voice of God and speak the words of life that He is telling you to speak. You may not be able, but God is more than able. If you have not accepted Jesus Christ into your life as your personal Lord and Saviour, I encourage you to do so today. The advantage of having God in your life is that no matter how bad things get, you have the God living in you that will give you a future when there seems to be none and a hope when all hope is gone. I was recently reminded of a song by Elevation Worship entitled, “Graves into Gardens.” One line in the song in particular stirred something in me and I felt prompted to write about it - “You turn bones into armies.” This comes from the book of Ezekiel 37:1-10. Although I am familiar with this story, I did further research to better understand what was happening in these verses. The prophet is taken by the Spirit of God to a valley filled with dry bones. One of the observations he makes is that, “they were very many…they were very dry”(v.2). That reveals how overwhelming and how hopeless things were for the nation of Israel at that time. On top of that the bones were in an open valley. It tells us that these people had not received a proper burial and in ancient Israel and the ancient Near East, a corpse that had not been properly buried and left exposed, was considered a disgrace. This reminds me that there are times when we go through situations that not only leave us feeling overwhelmed and hopeless but covered in shame. We wonder what others might be thinking or saying. We may even feel as if our very character, our very testimony is under question. It can be discouraging and we may lose our confidence and hope of ever being restored. It is interesting that the Lord asks the prophet in the following verse, “Can these bones live?” Immediately, the prophet wisely turns the answer to the question right back to God “O Lord God, Thou knowest.” This was beyond anything the prophet could comprehend or figure out. After all, it wasn’t a valley containing one or two sets of bones, it was a valley filled with dry bones. And, chances are, the bones were in a confused mess. This was not a valley of skeletons, but a valley of disconnected bones, scattered all over thus making it difficult to connect which bone belonged to which person. It was truly a confused mess and in our own lives sometimes, we may go through situations that feel so messed up, we really feel like there is no hope. Yet, as I said, the prophet did a wise thing - he gave the solution to the problem back to God. He knew he could in no way solve it. It was too big and too messed up for him to handle so God was his only hope! I don’t even think God expected him to have the answer. Maybe He wanted to see what he would do. Similarly, God doesn’t expect us to have the answer. He just wants us to give that messed up, hopeless situation to Him. Too many times, however, we try to solve it on our own and we mess it up even more … if that were possible! There is nothing too hard for our God. Jeremiah, the prophet faced a similarly hopeless situation. Judah was about to be taken captive by their enemies yet, God instructs Jeremiah to buy a field from his nephew (Jeremiah 32:6-14). That made no sense! They were about to lose their homeland yet God tells him to buy a field there. God just wanted to prove that He would restore all that they were about to lose. He would do it! “Behold, I will gather them out of all countries, whither I have driven them in mine anger, and in my fury, and in great wrath; and I will bring them again unto this place, and I will cause them to dwell safely” (v. 37). At some point in time, we may go through situations that may seem hopeless and overwhelming. The good news is that God doesn’t expect us to handle it on our own. Instead, He wants us to choose to give it to Him and trust His way of working it out. After all, when it’s too much for us to handle, it’s never too much for our God. That’s why He is God and we are not! If you have not accepted Jesus Christ into your life as your personal Lord and Saviour, I encourage you to do so now. God is in the business of fixing what is messed up and hopeless. When we learn to lean on Him and trust Him, He will do above and beyond what we are able to do. If you want a picture of determination and stubborn resolve, think about the woman with the issue of blood (Luke 8:43-48). Her determination to press towards her goal against all odds is amazing. She wasn’t just physically pushing through a thick crowd of people, but through societal prejudice and her own fears. She was ceremonially unclean. She wasn’t even supposed to be in a crowd among people. She had exhausted all of her money on doctors hoping to be healed and had been sorely disappointed. She had every right and good excuse to give up, to wallow in self pity, to resign herself to her fate and simply wait for death to come. But she didn’t. She pushed her way through one more time … and she finally got results! Her story parallels the life of Amberley Snyder, a rodeo barrel racer, who, at the age of nineteen, gets into a car accident that leaves her paralysed from the waist down. A movie was made out of her experience entitled: “Walk. Ride. Rodeo.” At the time of her accident she was an up and coming star of rodeo barrel racing. She and her horse, Power, had a promising future in the sport. Unfortunately, after the accident she saw no hope of being able to continue in the sport she had grown to love. However, one day, she was in a particularly bad mood because although her wheelchair offered the freedom of movement, her condition still left her feeling hopeless and discouraged. Her mom in sheer frustration snapped at her the words she would need to pull her out of her despair: “This chair will either be your wings or it will be your anchor … you decide!” And decide she did. From that moment onward, with the help of seatbelts to keep her in place, she got back on her horse and started training once more. She went on to be successful in various competitions. This story inspires me because it is a reminder to not give up. Amber had three goals - walk, ride, rodeo. Although she admits that she has been unable to accomplish the first goal, it certainly has not stopped her from succeeding in the others. What is your “issue?” What is your “paralysis?” What is stopping you from achieving your goals? We all have challenges to face at one time or another. For some of us, those challenges are life-changing but in spite of how hopeless our situation may seem or feel, God’s purpose for us remains the same. “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future” (Jeremiah 29:11). Don’t believe the lie that it’s over. It’s not over until God says it is. No one else gets to make that call … not even you! Just like you, my life has its challenges but ever so often God keeps reminding me that He has good plans for me, He has hope and a future for me. It’s not over until He says because my life is still in His hands. It has not fallen out and no one and nothing can snatch me out of His hands. My life is safe right where it is in His care. His Word says that He is able to keep what we commit to Him (2 Timothy 1:12b). That’s not an idle word. It’s a promise. I want to encourage you to trust God to use all of you - the good, the bad, the in-between - for His honour and glory. He used the woman with her issue to encourage others. He is using Amberley with her paralysis to encourage many as well. When you think about it, your greatest victories come through some of your greatest trials. Let Him use all of you to be a powerful blessing and encouragement to those who need it. I love to say that nothing is wasted by God. He knows how to bring good out of everything. That’s what He does well. Trust Him. If you have not accepted Jesus Christ into your life as your personal Lord and Saviour, I encourage you to do so now. God will take all you - your successes, your failures, your limitations - and use them to bring hope to the hopeless and a future to those who have given up. We may be familiar with the stories in the Bible of Jairus’ daughter and the woman with the issue of blood (Mark 5:21-43). One day, while Jesus was with a large crowd, Jairus, a synagogue ruler, came to Him and begged Him to come and lay His hands on his dying daughter so that she might be healed. On their way to his house, a woman who had suffered with a blood issue for twelve years touched his garment and was immediately healed. Although Jesus did not see her do it, He sensed it and when He inquired, she honestly told Him what she had done and why. Jesus comforted her and sent her home. During this time, Jairus was waiting for his own miracle. Unfortunately, someone from his household came and told him: “Your daughter is dead. Why trouble the Teacher any further?” (v.35) As soon as Jesus heard this He encouraged him and said: “Do not be afraid, only believe.” (v.36) Although I have read this story a number of times over the years that caught my attention. Jairus was told a fact - his daughter was dead. There was nothing more to do. At that point, he had failed in his efforts to save her life. There was no hope left, it made no sense, as his servant said, to trouble Jesus to come help her. But, here’s the thing - Jairus had indeed come to the right Person. He did not go to a human doctor who could do nothing more, he had gone to the Doctor who had the power to do all things! Jesus was not moved by negative words or the reality of the negative situation. Jesus knew the power in Him and He knew that through Him all impossible things were truly possible. Jesus could then confidently say: “Do not be afraid, only believe.” Something else comes to mind. The first thing Jesus said was, “Do not be afraid.” He addressed Jairus’ fear - the fear that it was over, the fear that nothing more could be done to save his loved one. Jesus needed to replace his fear with something more powerful - FAITH because faith would activate the miracle that was about to happen. I think that in the same way, God wants to address our fear, our fear that it’s over, that it doesn’t make sense trying again, our fear that nothing more can be done in our situation. I may not know what your situation is, but perchance Jesus is saying to you “only believe.” He doesn’t want you to do anything else but believe. Don’t try to figure it out, don’t wonder when or how it will happen, just believe. Let God do all of the complicated stuff. Let God do it HIS way because He has a purpose for it. This story also reminds me of the story of Lazarus (John 11:1-44). In that instance, Jesus intentionally delayed going to see him while he was sick. He waited a few days after hearing the news before going to his house. By that time Lazarus had died and had been in the grave for four days. God was interested in a greater miracle. Jesus had healed many sick people but He wanted to increase their faith by actually raising someone from the dead. In our story today, Jesus knew the importance, I am sure, of getting to Jairus’ house quickly but He chose to delay. He chose to take the time to address a woman’s faith and healing. During this delay, Jairus’ daughter died. In both stories of Lazarus and Jairus, Jesus was not worried because He knew that He could do impossible things. He also knew that the more impossible the situation the greater people’s faith would be. But, I love the fact that Jesus immediately countered the negative statement from Jairus’ servant with a positive, life-giving one - "only believe." With those two words, He was offering hope in a hopeless situation. God wants to do the same for someone today. No matter how hopeless your situation may seem God is saying “only believe.” Don’t add fear to it, don’t add facts to it … just believe! If you have not accepted Jesus Christ into your life as your personal Lord and Saviour, I encourage you to do so now. Jesus came to offer hope in hopeless situations, strength when we need it and peace when it makes absolutely no sense. God has the final say and if He says it then that certainly settles it! Some minutes after completing the writing of my blog post last week, I listened to a testimony by a well-known worshipper from Bethel Music, Melissa Helser. I became emotional while listening to her story and felt it complimented my post at that time. By the age of seventeen, she was diagnosed with psoriatic arthritis - psoriasis of the skin and the bones. She was told that she had already lost four or five layers of bone in her hands and feet and could become paralyzed in a year and a half. The medication prescribed did not work. She went to a church service where God reminded her that He had given her the authority to fight against her condition and that she should not allow herself to die in it. She then threw away her medication, went on a thirty day fast and was radically healed. She went on to get married some time later. Unfortunately, a year after having her first child, the disease came back. Little tasks became difficult for her. Years passed and life was challenging and her faith wavered. She finally reached the point where she decided that she was not going to get bitter or disappointed in the Lord. She was going to love her life. She realized that in her desert experience, she was getting to know the Lord and that was where He was proving His love to her. She went back on medication and started experiencing results. God just wanted her to trust Him. Even though people would remind her that she is not healed, she acknowledges that God has given her hope, life, love and grace. She is still able to see the goodness of the Lord in the midst of her suffering. What I love about this testimony is the reality of it. The reality is, she is still suffering but growing closer to God in spite of it. She could easily focus on the reality of her suffering but she is learning to simply trust God even in the midst of her desert season. Last week I spoke about “a road in the wilderness” and “rivers in the desert” (Isaiah 43:19). Choosing to trust God to lead you and sustain you during your desert seasons is no easy task. It can be so much easier to lean on what your natural senses are experiencing and so it takes a conscious effort to keep focused on the God who will keep you while you go through difficult times. Melissa’s testimony is not the kind of testimony where everything works out in the end as we would like. Rather, it’s the kind of reality that many people face on a daily basis. It tells us that sometimes it's not about our expected end result but God’s expected end result. At the end of the day, God’s thoughts and ways are higher than ours. He doesn’t work with our human logic. We may want the trouble to come to an end. God, however, wants to use the trouble to mold and shape us into who He wants us to be and by extension develop a more intimate relationship with Him. What I love about Melissa’s story is that people would remind her that she is not healed. She instead focuses, not on her suffering, but on the beautiful things God is doing in her life while she is suffering - He has drawn her closer to Him and she is able to see Him for who He is. He has also blessed her to be able to do things she could not do before, like enjoy time with her family. As I go through my own challenges, God is reminding me of His presence. He is right there with me, I am not alone. He is fighting for me because the battle is His. I can draw closer to Him as I depend on Him more and more. I experience His grace, strength and goodness and the confidence that His Word and promises are solid rocks I can stand on. Whatever your challenges, God is right there with you. He has not left you and He never will. He is still good and will still work all things together for your good (Romans 8:28). If you have not accepted Jesus Christ into your life as your personal Lord and Saviour, I encourage you to do so now. God will never leave you alone in your suffering. He will be right there, a source of strength, hope, peace and grace. For the past few weeks, I have been reading the book of Isaiah. I have found some of my favorite verses of encouragement and strength there. One of those verses is the theme verse that heads this blog for this season: “Behold I will do a new thing. Now it shall spring forth; shall you not know it? I will even make a road in the wilderness and rivers in the desert" (Isaiah 4:19). Although I generally have an idea of what “wilderness” and “desert mean and can even conjure up a picture in my mind of what each looks like, I still wanted to see if there was more to these words than just my general understanding. According to National Geographic’s online definition, “a wilderness is an area of land that has been largely undisturbed by modern human development" and usually lacks "roads, buildings and other artificial structures.” Deserts, on the other hand, "are areas that receive very little precipitation” (rainfall). As I look at these definitions, I see God’s promises standing out in this verse. He promises to “make a road in the wilderness.” In short, God is the One who will create a way where man may not or cannot. So, no matter how hopeless and lost we may feel in our wilderness season, God is the One who will guide us through safely. The children of Israel wandered around in the wilderness and took longer than they should have taken simply because they refused God’s leadership and guidance. He was going to guide them safely through to their destination but they had to trust Him. We too have to trust God as we go through those difficult seasons. He will guide us, He will direct us in the way we should go, He will create the road that will lead us to where we need to be. The fact that a desert is an area with very little rainfall catches my attention. There is little chance of finding streams, ponds or even rivers. Yet, God is saying that He will not only make “a river” but “rivers” in this dry area. Only God can produce an abundance of water in an area where little rain falls. He has to do it because we certainly can’t! I am encouraged because while we are in those difficult seasons God will sustain us. It would be nice to speed through those deserts but many times we can’t. We cry out to God, “Lord how long!” not even realizing that God is sustaining and keeping us while we are in our wilderness or desert. The Israelites went through this. As they journeyed through the wilderness, God not only guided them but sustained, protected and provided for them. He provided food (Exodus 16:15) and water (Deuteronomy 8:15) and their clothes and shoes did not wear out during their forty years in the wilderness (Deuteronomy 29:5). Even as I go through my own challenging seasons, God ever so often reminds me that He is guiding and sustaining me every step of the way. At times, when fear and discouragement rise up, God reminds me that I am not alone, He is with me. This gives me the strength and motivation to keep going and to keep trusting that He will get me through. Even as you go through, and the journey seems never-ending, remember that as God’s child you can trust that He is with you, He will sustain you and He will guide you. He will do it because when we can't He most certainly can! If you have not accepted Jesus Christ into your life as your personal Lord and Saviour, I encourage you to do so now. As God’s child, you have His promised presence - His presence that covers, protects and sustains you as you journey through your difficult seasons. Last week, as I shared on the story of the two storms, one image in particular seemed embedded in my mind - that of Jesus walking across the water to go to His disciples’ rescue. To be honest though, I didn’t actually picture Him walking across the water. I pictured Him marching across those waters with determination to rescue His friends. They were in trouble and needed Him and He was not going to let them down! Yes, I have a very active imagination but it helped concretize in my mind and heart the reality of God’s love for us. It’s never too much for Him to help us. That simply speaks of His deep and committed love for us. As I turn this over in my mind, I find myself recalling the song, “Reckless Love” by Cory Asbury. Some of the lines seem to back up the above image in mind: There’s no shadow You won’t light up Mountain You won’t climb up Coming after me There’s no wall You won’t kick down Lie You won’t tear down Coming after me Jesus saw His disciples in trouble and He went after them. As I said last week, He didn’t wait for HIs disciples to cry out for help. He realized they were struggling and He went after them. In this case, not even a body of water separating them could keep Him away. Not even the fact that He had no boat could keep Him away. Not even the fact that the waters were rough could keep Him away. I believe that His love for them caused Him to push past the obvious obstacles and make His way to help them. Think about it. God will do the same for you and me. Years ago, I walked away from God for a brief period. Yes I had fun but the overwhelming emptiness and depression I felt could not be denied. I tried filling that emptiness with worldly things but still felt empty. I realized what was happening to me and why and knew that one day I would return to my God. But God is faithful. He saw my struggle and came to my rescue. As I look back on that season, I realize that, just like the song, God did what He had to do to bring me back to Him. He did it. I could not do it myself. Just like the disciples in the boat, He saw me struggling and came to my rescue. I don’t know what your struggle is. I don't know what attacks or challenges may be coming against you but God does. He won’t see you and leave you. He will see and come to your aid. It’s what He does, it’s who He is. God is faithful. If you have not accepted Jesus Christ into your life as your personal Lord and Saviour, I encourage you to do so now. Jesus loves you and He will do whatever He has to do to come to your rescue when you need Him. Sometimes we don’t recognize His help when it comes, or it may not come when we want it to come, but, IT WILL COME! God is faithful! The word “storm” usually conjures negative feelings and images. Images of turmoil and feelings of fear seem characteristic of one’s expectations of a storm. Over the past few weeks I have found myself sharing on and comparing the story of two storms in the Bible. In the first account (Matthew 8:23-27; Mark 4:35-41), Jesus and His disciples get into a boat intending to sail to the other side. While on their way, Jesus falls asleep. A windstorm comes up and the waves begin to beat into the boat filling it with water. The disciples, terrified, cry out to Him waking Him up from His very comfortable sleep. When He awakens, He simply and calmly rebukes the wind and the sea. Everything becomes calm again. In the second account (Matthew 14:22-33; Mark 6:45-51), Jesus directs His disciples to get into a boat to go to the other side while He Himself goes to the mountain to pray. After awhile, the winds become contrary and the disciples find it difficult to row. Jesus, on land, sees them struggling and goes to them walking on the water. They don’t recognise Him, believing that they are seeing a ghost. However, when He speaks to them they recognise Him. When Peter asks to come to Him on the water, He allows him and Peter leaves the boat and walks towards Him. Unfortunately, when he takes his eyes off of Him, he begins to sink. As he cries out, Jesus immediately reaches out and rescues him. As they both enter the boat safely, the wind becomes calm again. In both stories, stormy weather was involved. In both stories, the occupants of the boat were filled with fear. Yet, in both stories, their Saviour was there. In the first account, Jesus was sleeping peacefully in the boat when the storm arose. How could Jesus sleep so peacefully through a raging storm? It was simple. He knew who He was and the power that was residing in Him. He knew nothing could truly harm Him unless He allowed it and nothing could truly harm His disciples unless He allowed it. The disciples, of course, did not understand that and many times, our response is exactly like theirs. When the storms in our life arise, our first response is to panic, forgetting that Jesus is right there with us. He hasn’t gone anywhere. In fact, He is calmly going through the storm with us - while we are panicking - because He knows who He is and that the One in us is greater than anything or anyone outside of us! He can handle it. It’s not our storm, it’s His!!! In the second story, Jesus was not physically in the boat with them. He was on land praying. Yet, what I find interesting is that while on land, He saw them struggling on the water. Jesus could have left them alone. After all, they were fishermen accustomed to stormy seas. But, He chose to go to them. Jesus saw and He acted. He did not wait for them to cry for help like they did in the first story. He would not have been able to hear them anyway. This is what comes to my mind - God sees, God cares, God acts. God went to them in their time of trouble. God is right there. He is never far away. He is always there, I believe, waiting and looking for every opportunity to come to our rescue if we need it. He never sees us in trouble and leaves us alone to fend for ourselves. I believe He jumps into action and sends His angels to fight on our behalf. As you face the storms of life, I encourage you to take heart in the storm, be encouraged, be strengthened because Jesus has promised to NEVER leave you nor abandon you. He is always there even in those times when He seems far away. He. Is. There. If you have not accepted Jesus Christ into your life as your personal Lord and Saviour, I encourage you to do so now. When storms arise, we need that confidence that there is Someone strong enough and powerful enough to see us through. Jesus is that strength and Saviour we need. We are safe in Him!!! |
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March 2024
AuthorThis blog provides inspirational nuggets inspired by the Word of God and serves to encourage and motivate Christians in their Christian walk. |