God Speaking

“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.” (Isaiah 41:10)

We had a visit from a young friend last week who shared with us how unsettling her work place had become. She works in a large office and has done so for several years, but lately felt that the whole atmosphere of where she worked had changed. Rumours had begun to circulate and the rumours contained ugly words like, downsizing / cost cutting / eliminating unnecessary personnel. Tensions in the office spread like wild fire, people were becoming fearful. There was certainly no joy in coming to work. Life had become precarious with everybody now being forced to assess what their future was going to hold. I was thinking with great sympathy about our friend, when I came across a quote from Corrie Ten Boom,

“Never be afraid to trust an unknown future to a known God”

We may not be facing the same dilemma as our young friend, but countless fears can arise in our lives where the same terror can grip us when we contemplate what the future holds for us. We may be so overcome with worry about the future, which we forget about the One who has our future firmly in his hands. Over and over again God spoke to the prophets telling them to remind the people of his powerful strength,

“Because he loved your forefathers and chose their descendants after them, he brought you out of Egypt by his Presence and his great strength” (Deuteronomy 4:37)

As the psalmists learnt to trust God with their lives they began to sing of his great strength, “The Lord is my strength and my song;…” Psalm 118:14, which was a great way to remind them of who was always standing beside them. They also realised that the Lord could endow them with this wonderful free gift, just for the asking. So how can we draw from this powerful strength so freely offered by our Almighty God, to overcome, sometimes very real problems that arise in our own lives? Connie Ten Boom uses a very telling word to describe our Lord, “a known God” Knowing God is the first step in being able to partake of this generous outpouring of support.

To know God means an intimate relationship with him. Just in earthly relationships which are built up by trust and confidence, so too with our Heavenly Father. We build this trust by spending time with him in prayer and reading his word, worshipping him with others, learning about him with others, beginning to share our deepest thoughts with him.

The world can be a very scary place and the media blasts us constantly with new fears to worry us and for our loved ones. The economy of the world is shaky. How do we invest for our future? Health issues raise ugly questions. Are we next in line for that dreaded disease? Who do we believe about even the effect of global warming? Will there be no beauty of flora or fauna left in nature for our future children? We can easily become slaves to fear. Paul realised the ugliness of fear and wrote in Romans…

“For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship…” (Romans 8:15)

When we can shake off that debilitating fear and feel the strength of the Lord supporting us we can then offer what we have learnt to others. Jesus gives a beautiful directive to Peter in these words,

“But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.” (Luke 22:32)

When we are filled with confidence it is amazing how strength giving that can be when we are facing trials of any type. Confidence only comes with trust. We can confidently trust the One who promises to never leave us and leave our future in his capable hands knowing that his right hand is extended towards us ready to uphold us.

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