Even as God is meting out destruction, He is sovereignly and purposefully guiding the aftermath. He has planned the beginning and the end of every trial to accomplish His will and transform His people.
Lord, help me to trust you in every stage of trial that You know and orchestrate all things for Your glory and our good growth.
Early in this chapter God comes to dwell with His people, bringing justice, righteousness, stability, salvation, wisdom and knowledge…all established by “the fear of the LORD”. Then this passage describes the confidence we can have as we follow Gods way…all because He will save us.
We all long for justice, peace and security! Yet everyday we look around and we are reminded that these things are in short supply around our world. There are likely pockets of these around us where Gods Kingdom has broken through as His Church is displaying the fruit of the Spirit consistently. Those are sweet places where this passage comes to life….but they are just moments, in a sea of chaos.
Lord, we long for Your return and for Your Spirit to be influencing everything we see. Help me to live in a way that those around me may experience just a moment of Your peace, comfort and justice.
God is asking His people to rely only on Him, that includes me. I am forced to look inside to understand where I am relying on my own skills, knowledge, experience or ability rather than having an unshakable confidence in Gods care of me.
It would be easy to expect that He will always keep me from harm or discomfort, but God sometimes uses those vary situations to shape me, mold me and conform me to be more like Jesus Christ!
Lord, help me to trust You and rely solely on Your provision, protection and power, so that I don’t depend on myself or any other weak thing…You alone are able to stand every trial!
““Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh. Is anything too hard for me?”
Jeremiah 32:27 ESV
What a delight to remember that nothing is impossible for God. So many things around me seem broken beyond repair but God is bigger than all of them! The damage and destruction that people cause themselves are the raw material of Gods handiwork.
Lord, help me to believe that is true…restore my faith in Your purposes. Lord would You be glorified by putting every piece in place and drawing each person back to close relationship with You!
““If you turn back your foot from the Sabbath, from doing your pleasure on my holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight and the holy day of the Lord honorable; if you honor it, not going your own ways, or seeking your own pleasure, or talking idly; then you shall take delight in the Lord, and I will make you ride on the heights of the earth; I will feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.””
Isaiah 58:13-14 ESV
What a joy to delight in the Lord. To follow Him in obedience and enjoy walking in His way. It does require that we deny our own desires and walk in humility… Lord, help me to love Your commands and rest in Your promises, presence and protection!
