This past Sunday, our Pastor continued leading us through the book of Acts - focusing on the principle of Fasting. The Lord spoke to me during that service asking me to let go or "fast" from my normal lunch plans from now until I leave for Israel and take time to spend time in His Word and prayer. It's been wonderful to go a quiet place and prayer walk and spend time reading, studying and journaling what I've learned. Most of what I've done has been private but today, I sensed that the Lord would have me to share this with you.
I read Isaiah 30 during my lunch break today. The devotional content I'm reading centered around Isaiah 30:15 which talks about resting in the Lord but I SO enjoyed reading the whole chapter. It answered a lot of my questions about my own struggles with rest, idolatry and world events.
In Isaiah 30:15 God speaks of returning to Him and resting..."Only in returning to me and resting in me will you be saved. In quietness and confidence is your strength..." (this is in the context of Israel seeking out help from Egypt during wartime for provision rather than resting and trusting in God.)
It's comforting to know that God has a plan (Jeremiah 29:11) and in Isaiah He shows how part of that plan includes rest, waiting and returning to God. If you're like me, resting just isn't something that comes naturally or easy. If I'm at home and I may sit down to rest, but rather than sitting quietly or just watching TV or listening to music or doing nothing more than resting - I find myself multi-tasking -- I will look at a magazine while all that is on or a cat will jump in my lap wanting to be petted and inevitably, I will pick up my phone or tablet to answer a text or check Facebook or play a game and rather than resting - I'm mentally active. Or maybe I go outside just to sit in the sun or watch the water or walk - but instead I find myself thinking about all the things I need to do, making either a mental list or physical list or get distracted by taking on a new project -- never resting or enjoying just the beauty of the day! We are commanded to rest - and God patiently waits on us to return to Him and rest in Him rather than trying to conquer our worlds apart from Him - even in the small things.
Part of God's plan includes trust - In Isaiah 30:18, the prophet says, "So the LORD must wait for you to come to Him so he can show you His love and compassion. For the LORD is a faithful God. Blessed are those who wait for His help." verse 20 "Though the Lord gave you adversity for food and suffering for drink, He will still be with you to teach you. You will see your teacher with your own eyes. Your own ears will hear Him. Right behind you a voice will say, "This is the way you should go," whether to the right or to the left"
Trust means giving over our concerns for the big and the small and letting Him have control and trusting Him with the outcome. How many prayers do we pray, giving over the concerns of our hearts and then rather than trusting God to handle those concerns, we lose sleep, toil and spin over them or wrestle with God in prayer until He answers. Now, wrestling with God in prayer and praying fervently is not a bad thing - unless we are doing it because we don't trust God - and that's a question we need to ask ourselves. Jacob wrestled with God and ended up with a dislocated hip for the rest of his life - God wins - always - and there may be a lifelong reminder of going to battle with Him as in the case of Jacob. We need to trust God - He is faithful - He is trustworthy and His Word is true - but He is God, not our buddy and His will is always for the greater good and His glory.
Part of God's plan includes purging - Verse 22 - "Then you will destroy all your silver idols and your precious gold images. You will throw them out like filthy rags, saying to them, "Good riddance!"
Getting rid of idols and junk (physical, emotional, mental) - and burning them, throwing them out and destroying them as if they were common rubbish. Idols weigh us down. My husband and I moved and combined households with my 85 year old mother 2 years ago. We have tried haphazardly to get rid of things that we don't use and aren't meaningful anymore but because we are busy, the process has been slow. Now a lot of what we thought was so valuable is collecting dust, dirt, and spider webs and will be worthless if we don't get rid of it or find use for it soon.
It's never fun to clean out, clear out and purge. But when we do - we make room. We make room for new things, new memories, new relationships. We make room for God, too. God is showing me patiently how to honor Him by letting go. Part of the purging for me involves letting go of material possessions but I think there's really a larger calling to let go of old dreams that were never meant to come true and of letting go of old hurts that cut deeply and then forgiving myself and others who may have caused or had part in those hurts and bad decisions. Part of the purging process for me has involved letting go of toxic relationships and activities that didn't glorify God. So I'm in a major season of cleaning out and letting go and in doing so I'm discovering I don't need as much, I don't want as much and I'm ready for new - whatever new is waiting but only if it comes from the Lord.
The rest of Isaiah will make your heart leap to read of God's power and promise to conquer the enemies and tear down the strongholds and refresh, restore and renew as the old is put away and the evil is defeated in this broken world.
I think we could all benefit from spending time in Isaiah 30 - believing that God always keeps His promises and He will prevail - over ebola, over Hamas, over ISIS, over our corrupt government, over idolatry, over war, and over Satan and all those things that war with our souls and minds for attention.
Rest and trust in Him this day dear friend and if He calls you to purge - make room for more of Him by being obedient -- it was a beautiful lesson for me. My prayer is that it will be an encouragement for you.
I read Isaiah 30 during my lunch break today. The devotional content I'm reading centered around Isaiah 30:15 which talks about resting in the Lord but I SO enjoyed reading the whole chapter. It answered a lot of my questions about my own struggles with rest, idolatry and world events.
In Isaiah 30:15 God speaks of returning to Him and resting..."Only in returning to me and resting in me will you be saved. In quietness and confidence is your strength..." (this is in the context of Israel seeking out help from Egypt during wartime for provision rather than resting and trusting in God.)
It's comforting to know that God has a plan (Jeremiah 29:11) and in Isaiah He shows how part of that plan includes rest, waiting and returning to God. If you're like me, resting just isn't something that comes naturally or easy. If I'm at home and I may sit down to rest, but rather than sitting quietly or just watching TV or listening to music or doing nothing more than resting - I find myself multi-tasking -- I will look at a magazine while all that is on or a cat will jump in my lap wanting to be petted and inevitably, I will pick up my phone or tablet to answer a text or check Facebook or play a game and rather than resting - I'm mentally active. Or maybe I go outside just to sit in the sun or watch the water or walk - but instead I find myself thinking about all the things I need to do, making either a mental list or physical list or get distracted by taking on a new project -- never resting or enjoying just the beauty of the day! We are commanded to rest - and God patiently waits on us to return to Him and rest in Him rather than trying to conquer our worlds apart from Him - even in the small things.
Part of God's plan includes trust - In Isaiah 30:18, the prophet says, "So the LORD must wait for you to come to Him so he can show you His love and compassion. For the LORD is a faithful God. Blessed are those who wait for His help." verse 20 "Though the Lord gave you adversity for food and suffering for drink, He will still be with you to teach you. You will see your teacher with your own eyes. Your own ears will hear Him. Right behind you a voice will say, "This is the way you should go," whether to the right or to the left"
Trust means giving over our concerns for the big and the small and letting Him have control and trusting Him with the outcome. How many prayers do we pray, giving over the concerns of our hearts and then rather than trusting God to handle those concerns, we lose sleep, toil and spin over them or wrestle with God in prayer until He answers. Now, wrestling with God in prayer and praying fervently is not a bad thing - unless we are doing it because we don't trust God - and that's a question we need to ask ourselves. Jacob wrestled with God and ended up with a dislocated hip for the rest of his life - God wins - always - and there may be a lifelong reminder of going to battle with Him as in the case of Jacob. We need to trust God - He is faithful - He is trustworthy and His Word is true - but He is God, not our buddy and His will is always for the greater good and His glory.
Part of God's plan includes purging - Verse 22 - "Then you will destroy all your silver idols and your precious gold images. You will throw them out like filthy rags, saying to them, "Good riddance!"
Getting rid of idols and junk (physical, emotional, mental) - and burning them, throwing them out and destroying them as if they were common rubbish. Idols weigh us down. My husband and I moved and combined households with my 85 year old mother 2 years ago. We have tried haphazardly to get rid of things that we don't use and aren't meaningful anymore but because we are busy, the process has been slow. Now a lot of what we thought was so valuable is collecting dust, dirt, and spider webs and will be worthless if we don't get rid of it or find use for it soon.
It's never fun to clean out, clear out and purge. But when we do - we make room. We make room for new things, new memories, new relationships. We make room for God, too. God is showing me patiently how to honor Him by letting go. Part of the purging for me involves letting go of material possessions but I think there's really a larger calling to let go of old dreams that were never meant to come true and of letting go of old hurts that cut deeply and then forgiving myself and others who may have caused or had part in those hurts and bad decisions. Part of the purging process for me has involved letting go of toxic relationships and activities that didn't glorify God. So I'm in a major season of cleaning out and letting go and in doing so I'm discovering I don't need as much, I don't want as much and I'm ready for new - whatever new is waiting but only if it comes from the Lord.
The rest of Isaiah will make your heart leap to read of God's power and promise to conquer the enemies and tear down the strongholds and refresh, restore and renew as the old is put away and the evil is defeated in this broken world.
I think we could all benefit from spending time in Isaiah 30 - believing that God always keeps His promises and He will prevail - over ebola, over Hamas, over ISIS, over our corrupt government, over idolatry, over war, and over Satan and all those things that war with our souls and minds for attention.
Rest and trust in Him this day dear friend and if He calls you to purge - make room for more of Him by being obedient -- it was a beautiful lesson for me. My prayer is that it will be an encouragement for you.
