Skip to the Good Stuff

Isaiah 41:10 NIV

"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."

God is talking to Israel.  Throughout the Old Testament,  He spoke to Israel through prophets and priests.  Sometimes Israel listened and sometimes they killed the messenger.   Isaiah was a respected prophet and when you hear words as presented above, you tend to rejoice instead of being resentful.  Yet we should put this into perspective.  

Isaiah had spent most of this writing warning of the coming troubles and trials and tribulation.  He foretold of a coming exile so by the time He gets to the good news, the people were probably a little happy.  In fact, like many of us, they probably wished he had just skipped ahead to the good stuff.

There have been many times in my own life that I wished I could have skipped the suffering and just experienced the good stuff.  The problem with that is twofold.  First, if we lived in the good all the time would it be an experience?  Would I ever appreciate when God moved in my life?  Second, we do not learn a lot when we are having only good spells.  We do not learn to turn to God for help.  Having God come to us and say "don't fear for I am with you" has less impact when we are living in the good all the time.

The fact is, we live in a broken world with broken people.  We need God.  We need His assurance that we can continue in life with His guiding hand.  As I write this, I admit that I am dismayed about something, and yet as I write I feel God's reassuring hand.  I will get through this with His help.

We do not have to go through life, especially the hard stuff, all alone.  God is with us.  He is strengthening us.  He is helping. He sent His Holy Spirit - aka the Comforter - to guide us and to counsel us.  We have a new covenant written in blood, the blood of Jesus. His name is Emanuel - God with us.

I am glad God spoke to Israel, I am glad He still speaks to us today.  I wonder if God has anything to say to the United States.  Would we want to hear it?