Be encouraged - 18 December 2008
Awake, awake! Clothe yourself with strength, O arm of the LORD; awake, as in days gone by, as in generations of old. Was it not you who cut Rahab to pieces, who pierced that monster through? Was it not you who dried up the sea, the waters of the great deep, who made a road in the depths of the sea so that the redeemed might cross over?
The ransomed of the LORD will return. They will enter Zion with singing; everlasting joy will crown their heads. Gladness and joy will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing will flee away. “I, even I, am he who comforts you. Who are you that you fear mortal men, the sons of men, who are but grass, that you forget the LORD your Maker, who stretched out the heavens and laid the foundations of the earth, that you live in constant terror every day because of the wrath of the oppressor, who is bent on destruction? For where is the wrath of the oppressor? The cowering prisoners will soon be set free; they will not die in their dungeon, nor will they lack bread.
For I am the LORD your God, who churns up the sea so that its waves roar— the LORD Almighty is his name. I have put my words in your mouth and covered you with the shadow of my hand— I who set the heavens in place, who laid the foundations of the earth, and who say to Zion, 'You are my people.'" Isaiah 51:9-16 [NIV]
Isaiah writes at a time of ruin and of despair. And when we are going through bad times these words may seem like hopeless idealism. But they are not. Reading them reminds us that God inhabits a larger universe than the much smaller world of the everyday that we often choose to remain in. Isaiah lifts us out of our “here and now and me” up into that bigger universe that we do also inhabit, and where our problems find their proper perspective. Not less real, not less painful, but placed in the context of the spiritual war of the worlds in which God is victor, where victory is already won, where celebrations are going on and soon, in God’s time, it will be celebrated on earth when Jesus returns.
We may be stuck in the mopping up operations, we may still be under attack from an enemy who will not lie down – but the enemy is beaten. He knows it, but still tries to strike fear in us. But read these words of Isaiah and we cannot help but be encouraged! Indeed for me the best thought is when God speaks for us, and says
16 I have...covered you with the shadow of my hand
Even the shadow of his hand is enough and I am healed. |
