Faithfulness and mercy – 15 May 2009
My faithfulness and My mercy and loving kindness shall be with him ….
Psalm 89:24 [The Amplified Bible]
As I prepared for my recent trip overseas, I discovered that the man who used to enjoy travelling so much was less keen to do so because of anxiety and fear. Despite praying about this, my worry remained. Tossing and turning in my bed, I got up and read the bible - and opening it at random, here is what I found, which I had not seen before;
….Behold, he shall fly swiftly like an eagle and shall spread out his wings ….
Jeremiah 48:40 [The Amplified Bible]
And here is what is good about the Lord. When you seek Him about a single problem, you will not go away empty handed, but He will give you answers to many other problems. So after reading the verse in Jeremiah 48, the Lord led me straight to Isaiah 41:9–20 where He showed me; to whom my family and I belong, where I came from and my purpose in this part of the world, what He is going to do with my enemy, how He will deal with the mountains in my life and how He is going to prosper me.
From far across the earth I brought you here and said, "You are my chosen servant.
I haven't forgotten you." Don't be afraid. I am with you. Don't tremble with fear. I am your God. I will make you strong, as I protect you with my arm and give you victories.
Everyone who hates you will be terribly disgraced; those who attack will vanish into thin air. You will look around for those brutal enemies, but you won't find them because they will be gone. I am the LORD your God. I am holding your hand, so don't be afraid. I am here to help you. People of , don't worry, though others may say, " is only a worm!" I am the holy God of , who saves and protects you. I will let you be like a log covered with sharp spikes. You will grind and crush every mountain and hill until they turn to dust. A strong wind will scatter them in all directions. Then you will celebrate
and praise me, your LORD, the holy God of . 7When the poor and needy are dying of thirst and cannot find water, I, the LORD God of Israel, will come to their rescue. I won't forget them. I will make rivers flow on mountain peaks. I will send streams to fill the valleys. Dry and barren land will flow with springs and become a lake. I will fill the desert with all kinds of trees -- cedars, acacias, and myrtles; olive and cypress trees; fir trees and pines. Everyone will see this and know that I, the holy LORD God of , created it all.
The fact that you are reading this devotional is testimony that I travelled safely and the visit was a great success. There is no other reason except that He is faithful, merciful and full of loving kindness. And since he has honoured the first of the many promises above, I also have confidence that everything He promised me that night is coming to pass. He confirmed the answer by giving me a vision - a heavy downpour of rain on me as soon as I fell asleep after praying the promises He had just revealed to me. | 