'they who wait [or who's trust/hope/ strength is in] for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint'.
It reminded me about God's timing and how when I grow tiered, uncertain, unsure, unfaithful and desperate I can trust in God for renewal.
Well, the same thing happened today. Earlier that day I had been reading the Bible out in the garden. Isaiah 40 really stuck out to me, and then that very same evening I had an e-mail from my friend about us all meeting up this week (like we usually do). He usually encourages us with scripture, and this week the scripture was also taken from Isaiah 41. Now, there are 66 Books in the Bible and 1,189 chapters so that is a 0.08% chance. It again reminded me of God's sovereign reign over our lives. It reminded me how the Bible is an amazing book. The Bible isn't just an old book about people living thousands of years ago, but it is the living Word of God, and it can speak to us even now. This isn't the only coincidence where I've felt God speaking to me personally, or where the same verse/ chapter/ theme keeps coming up either. God has a profound ability to speak through the Bible he inspired. Its strange, I was a Christian years before I discovered this, and it is only in the last year or so that I've started to appreciate it for more than a book, and allowed it to speak more deeply than any story or self-help guide.
Anyway, in this case he quoted Isaiah 41:10* that we might trust God and move through our difficult situations with Him. When I was out in the garden studying this chapter (before receiving the e-mail), I noticed that about three years earlier I had put a pen around everywhere in Isaiah 41 (NIV) where I read the word 'strength' (which is also strange, because this is one of the only place I have written in my Bible). It encouraged me that God's strength is there when ours is not. I remember at the time I had highlighted each of these words to show a friend, but never ended up doing it. Out in the garden I thought about God's strength and then at the end highlighted Isaiah 41:17-20* and saved it to my phone.
These five verses reminds me that our situations can be grave, we can search in vain, and it can look hopeless; however, we have a God who cares, a God who can take even the worse circumstances, and turn them (v18) to show his good control over the lives of his people.
*10 So do not fear, for I am with you;
do not be dismayed, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you and help you;
I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.
*17 “The poor and needy search for water,
but there is none;
their tongues are parched with thirst.
But I the LORD will answer them;
I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them.
18 I will make rivers flow on barren heights,
and springs within the valleys.
I will turn the desert into pools of water,
and the parched ground into springs.
19 I will put in the desert
the cedar and the acacia, the myrtle and the olive.
I will set junipers in the wasteland,
the fir and the cypress together,
20 so that people may see and know,
may consider and understand,
that the hand of the LORD has done this,
that the Holy One of Israel has created it.
Update:
Since starting this blog I became a Counsellor. You can read more on blog on subjects like Therapy at:
www.simonslistening.co.uk
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