Isaiah 41:10 (NKJV) Fear not, for I am with you; Be not dismayed, for I
am your God. I will strengthen you, Yes, I will help you, I will uphold
you with My righteous right hand.'
In this verse God makes
four proclamations; no need to fear I am with you, no need to be
dismayed I am your God, Need strength I will help you, and finally here
is my hand to hold you up. In every aspect of our lives God wants us to
know that he is more than enough. There is no problem that God did not
foresee. He is not up in Heaven wringing His hands and worrying about
what is going to happen. He has it under control. As Christians we
acknowledge God’s sovereignty and walk by faith. That is not just a
colloquialism but an intricate and vital part of our daily life.
Walking by faith through the valley of the shadow of death I can fear no
evil. Walking by faith as I navigate the rocks and crevices of the
mountain top I know that God is with me. Walking by faith though the
storm howls in my face I am secure in His arms. The righteous hand of
God is upon me! Whom shall I fear? I can say with Paul “Who shall
separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or
persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is
written: "For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as
sheep to be slaughtered." No, in all these things we are more than
conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither
death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the
future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in
all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is
in Christ Jesus our Lord". Romans 8:35-39 (NIV) Each time God
proclaims a truth into our lives He punctuates it by reminding us that
He is able to deliver everything that He has promised. I am with you! I
am your God! I will strengthen you! I will help you! I will uphold
you! It is MY righteous hand! Now that’s something you can depend on.
Isaiah 41:10 (NKJV) Fear not, for I am with you; Be not dismayed, for
I am your God. I will strengthen you, Yes, I will help you, I will
uphold you with My righteous right hand.'
As a rookie
policeman I had to spend six months with a training officer learning the
department procedures. I was fortunate to ride with a Training Officer
that was a fifth degree black belt in Karate. He was not big in
stature but in my years as a police officer I never rode with anyone
that remained as calm and cool in the face of danger as he did. I
witnessed him take down men twice his size and never break a sweat.
After a couple of months I stopped standing back and observing and
instead began to step up to the subjects and deal with them myself. It
was always reassuring to know that that when I faced uncertain danger he
had my back.
As we live our lives for God, we are often called to
stand in places of uncertainty and danger. When those times come it is
natural to focus on the problem. Our minds begin to run the scenarios
and try to find the solution – our path to victory. When we discover
that we are out of options with nowhere to turn or the problem seems to
overwhelm us we begin to fear. I have been there and I’m sure you have
too. That is when God whispers to us “Fear not, for I am with you”.
That giant in front of you is no match for God. The fear that you feel
is a product of sight not faith and 2 Corinthians 5:7 tells us that is
not the way to walk. We, like Peter, begin to look at the wind and the
waves and we take our eyes off of Jesus. It is easy to forget God is
there when we are focused on the problem. So today I encourage you to
“turn your eyes upon Jesus, look full in His wonderful face, and the
things of this earth will grow strangely dim, in the light of His glory
and grace.” So when Satan is staring you in the face and asks what you
are going to do say to that old devil with faith that pierces the dark
as you point to Jesus, "I don't know but I got Him!"
