“For thus saith the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel: in returning and rest shall yet be saved; in quietness and in confidence shall be your strength; and ye would not. But ye said, No; for we will flee upon horses; therefore shall ye flee and, We will ride upon the swift; therefore shall they that pursue you be swift. One thousand shall fell at the rebuke of one; at the rebuke of five shall ye flee; till ye be left as a beacon upon the top of a mountain, and as an ensign on an hill. And therefore will the Lord wait, that He may be gracious unto you, and therefore will He be exalted, that He may have mercy upon you; for the Lord is a God of judgement; blessed are all they that wait for Him.” Isaiah 30:15-18
Have you ever found that the way out of a situation is to do the exact opposite of what you actually WANT to do?! Everything inside of you is saying “do XYZ, this is what will work” yet God speaks to you – through His Word, a prophecy, a word of encouragement, the preached Word – that the thing to do is not what you feel like doing. Instead, it is to do the very thing you think will not work; the very thing you detest. In that moment, you stand between two choices and your choice will show who is God to you – God Himself or you and your own ideology.
Very simply, the above scripture shows us that God told His people that they should return to Him and be at rest; that was where their salvation, rescue, deliverance would be – in Him. If they could but learn to be still, be quiet and have confidence in their Maker they would receive strength within their being. However, just like many of us today, they would not. They chose their own way of deliverance. They focused on what they could see. They had confidence in natural things believing they could save themselves. Rather, they chose to ride their swift horses thinking they could escape and outrun their troubles. There is no escape in such a situation. This kind of disobedience only attracts the very thing you are trying to run away from! It will come to you in such force that it will even overtake you. Yet God, in His mercy waits for us. Waits for us to come to our senses just like the prodigal son. In that moment, He still extends mercy and grace unto us.
The question to ask is: do we have to keep living our lives in this wide circular way to go through troubles caused by prolonged disobedience? There are enough situations in life that will come to us as challenges anyway just by virtue of the fact that we are alive on the earth. Why do we add to these situations?
In all honesty, some of us have not learned what it is to have Jesus as our Lord as well as our Saviour. I often make this point in teaching and preaching. Having Jesus as Saviour is one thing, recognising Him as the One through Whom we receive the forgiveness of sins. Yes, that is right and good. However, to have Him as Lord where you are no longer in charge of your life; where your decisions are not the deciding factor; where your feelings are not the gauge of what needs to be done or not – that is an entirely different matter altogether. When we can make Jesus Lord of our lives some stresses we have been living with will cease as we bow our knees and hearts and surrender to the King of kings and Lord of lords.
Understand me, in this time of worry and stress that exists in the world, as believers we do not have to be full of worry like unbelievers. What use then is our belief in God?! We have the command and ability to “let not your heart be troubled…” (John 14:1).
Is this really the time to ride upon swift horses and take out more loans upon already overwhelming debt mountains that many of us have, thinking we will somehow pay them off? Is the solution really to have that glass of alcohol, not even for enjoyment but just to make you sleep? Will you really find peace in ignoring what is happening and seeking to just satisfy the soul with social and/or ministerial activity to make the days pass quicker?
What is needed now is to find ourselves in a continuing conscious attitude of the presence of God, the reality of His lovingkindness to us; His faithfulness and promises for His people; of our commitment to Him as His people. For anyone that can return to Him and find that place of quietness and confidence, that person will have rest and strength. This is what will take care of any moments of fear, worry, stress you may be experiencing because of current world events. Remember, “the end is not yet” and further things will take place to make the heart fear and knees to tremble. Indeed, I know this is not the normal message of the day when people are seeking false comforts and ego strokes but it is the truth. Medical conditions related to “stress” will increase. Suicides will increase. People will walk around looking like zombies as they are dazed, wondering what has become of their life and the world in general. It is not to be so for the people of God. We have been pre-warned that there shall be wars, rumours of wars, plagues, famines, earthquakes but have also received the command to see to it that we are not troubled! Matt 24:6-8
These are not just glib words. God has instructed that as long as we walk according to His covenant, we will receive the blessings and fulfilment of the covenant in every way and that DOES include peace of mind; security; provision. He has promised that as it was in the days of Israel in Egypt, when there was darkness in Egypt so much so that the Egyptians did not even move and they could not even see one another for three days yet there was light in Goshen where the people of God were, for all of God’s people who trust Him and will walk according to His ways in this time, we will partake of the same provision. (Exodus 10:21-23)
He has sent His Word. Let us receive it and may the Lord ever bless you as you anchor yourself and remain secure in Him alone in Jesus' Name. Amen.
Written by Pastor Marjorielyn R Campbell, Petra Global Ministries 2008
E-mail: admin@petraglobal.org.uk
This devotion may be reprinted, copied or distributed with the following acknowledgement shown:
“Reprinted/Copied/Distributed with the permission of:
Pastor Marjorielyn R Campbell, Petra Global Ministries 2008; www.petraglobal.org.uk”
