Trust in the Lord

"Don't worry about how things look.  

God is able." 

 Marshawn Evans

These are certainly uncertain times...to some they have never looked so uncertain!  We are all self-isolated, away from friends and family, unable to be in church, and find ourselves wondering who to really trust.  Isaiah found himself in a similar place.  He had just been commissioned to lead a fairly rebellious, stiff-necked group.  The people were conspiring and denying the existence of God and the Lord gave him instructions to lead them.  Isaiah was determined and told them: "I will put my trust in God." (Isaiah 8:17)  He didn't question what his job was and he didn't question how wrong it would be to put his faith in a world system that rejected God.  Why would we?

In this uncertain time, we must have "Godfidence"...confidence in a holy and powerful God...the one who created the heavens and the earth...is in control today.  So I will wear a shirt that tells people that is what I believe:

I want to have the faith of David standing before Goliath...a huge giant with metal armor and weapons.  David didn't shrink back and say he couldn't do something...he trusted the same God who had helped him in prior trials and used a puny rock and sling to slay the giant.  That is the same God who will help us today.  To trust in something is to believe in its reliability, to know enough about that person that He is who He says He is and that He will do what He says He will do.  His Word is full of reassurances that He knows the way we take, He will never leave us or forsake us and that if we will dwell with Him, we can rest in Him.   That will require us to make a choice to receive the Son He sent as our Savior and to follow Him and release our own control.  Someone once said: "Faith is taking the first step even when you don't see the whole staircase."  I don't have to know how this virus mess is going to end before I trust the God who holds the universe together.  He is able and He is good.

I'm reading A CONFIDENT HEART by Renee Swope and she says:

The only way we'll have a confident heart is if we move beyond

knowing about God to knowing and relying on Him - to depending

on His Word with our whole heart, mind and soul.

"Godfidence" is what we all need today to know that God is able to not only help our world in this current crisis, but His plans will not be thwarted.  If our leaders choose to use their own wisdom, God's will will be done.  That's my confidence today and in the future.

For further study:   Psalm 37:3, Psalm 75:3,  Proverbs 3:5-6, Isaiah 40:28-31, Jeremiah 17:7, Matthew 11:28-30, Romans 8:38-39, Phil. 4:6-9, Hebrews 11:1, 1 John 5:14

Be blessed in your understanding of God's Word.

Love,

Holly

Wait in hope for the Lord - Ps. 33:20

Spring has sprung here in Texas - even though it's not officially due for a few more weeks.  When I lived in Chicago for several years, the grey days of winter really took it's toll and could be a particularly depressing time for many of us.  We waited - sometimes not very patiently - for the first crocuses to appear along Lake Michigan.  But we always knew it would come eventually.  Bernard Williams says:  

The day the Lord created hope was probably

the same day He created Spring.

Dr. Michelle Bengtson has written a book called HOPE PREVAILS.  She is a Dallas neuropsychologist who for many years suffered debilitating depression.  And for many years prescribed in her practice various forms of treatment...many of which were very effective.  But when it came to her own illness, she said "...hope was elusive".  She tells about a friend who came by to see her in the midst of her worst days, and she shared a Bible verse with her.  At that moment, she says:

As I began to recite God's Word, especially his promises,

the dark cloud that had settled in my heart began to lift and I

began to feel more hopeful.

When you have faith in God and believe He is who He says He is, hope is possible and you can know one day things will be better.  Dr. Bengtson says "hope...is a belief in a purpose, the belief in something better" and Hebrews 6:19 says: "hope is an anchor for the soul, firm and secure".  Like a boat adrift on the sea, it holds steady and fixed when there is an anchor.  Jesus is that anchor.  It holds us secure and steady.  That doesn't mean we won't drift a bit, but the anchor holds.  She says: "I can offer nothing to my patients that heals unilaterally.  My words don't fix, and my suggestions don't heal.  God heals".

We must believe God is at work (Romans 8:28)  "...in ALL things" even when we don't see it.  But we don't have to see it to believe it...that's what faith is.  Hebrews 11:1 says "...faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see."  Spring is coming!

For further study:  Psalm 62:5, Isaiah 30:18, Isaiah 40:31, Lamentations 3:21-23, Micah 7:7, Romans 15:13, 2 Corinthians 1:10-11, Colossians 1:27, Hebrews 6:18-20.

Be blessed in your understanding of God's word.

Love,

Holly