Isaiah 43:2 | I Will Be With You
Isaiah 43:2 (ESV) shares a powerful promise, saying, “When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you.”
God cares for his people with profound and abiding love.
Sometimes we get the idea that God is a judgmental God with a short temper. I know that sounds cliche, and most of us would dismiss the idea. We have been well trained to separate religion from relationship in our language and mission statements, but sometimes the message fails to get into our hearts.
We can tell we are following God with the belief that we have to impress him and earn his love by how we respond to trials. If the waters rise and the flames rage and we go into shut-down mode, afraid to show God what’s really going on, we expose ourselves. Yet what is God’s desire in this verse? To mock us for our fear of the waters? To bully us for showing pain from a burn? No! It is to show us that amid trials, he is with us.
Praise God! We have a savior who is not just powerful enough to accomplish one big act of salvation on the cross but tender and loving enough to give himself to us even in our weakest moments. God longs to be with you in your struggles… in fact, this is where his presence often becomes most alive to us.
I am certainly a proponent of spending time with God in the secret place of prayer. I believe that is highly biblical based on what I read in Matthew 6:6. But I also know that God reveals himself in our day-to-day lives.
Some of you are going through the fire right now, perhaps without the compassionate comfort of the Holy Spirit. Have you resisted the Lord’s help? Have you been afraid that he will judge you or condemn you?
That could not be farther from the truth. God desires to be with you in the hardships you are facing. It is his promise. Wherever you are today, I want to invite you to pause and open your heart up to the Lord. Be 100% honest with him. If you are feeling afraid, tell him. If you are feeling unworthy, tell him. Lean into God’s promise today and receive his strength.
Amen.
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