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Fear
not, for I am with you;
be
not dismayed, for I am your God.
I
will strengthen you; I will help you.
I
will uphold you with my righteous right hand.
Isaiah
41:10 (ESV)
Fear not,
Bible scholars tell us that this phrase appears in God’s
Word 365 times. God is telling us something; we should trust Him for all things.
We should not fear anything that life places in our path.
for I am with you;
God constantly assures us of His presence in our
day-to-day life. He brings us sunshine that perks us up. He gives us guidance through
His Word. He ministers to us through friends He sends us. He stands with us
when we face difficulties and trauma.
be not dismayed,
God tells us not to lose heart. There have been times in my life that I felt defeated and even dejected. One of those times, I found this scripture. God guided me through a long time of stress for our family.
God tells us not to lose heart. There have been times in my life that I felt defeated and even dejected. One of those times, I found this scripture. God guided me through a long time of stress for our family.
for I am your God.
God tells Isaiah a very basic concept here. God is not
some far away untouchable deity who watches mankind to see how much trouble we
can get into. God claims each of us who accept Him into our hearts as His own
and becomes our guide and mainstay when we live for Him.
I will strengthen you,
God promises to uphold us and make us strong. When I was
in kindergarten, my teacher had a saying, “A promise is a promise and should be
kept.”
I will help you.
As I understand God’s workings, He does not stand by and
watch us as we flounder our way out of difficult or traumatic events of life. I
see Him as one who figuratively rolls up His sleeves and takes us by the hand
and guides us through to the place where we can have renewed peace in our
lives.
I will uphold you
God makes a statement here that endears Him to me. He
chooses to stand by us. He has stood by dear friends of mine during his
extensive stay in a heart hospital. God stayed with a dear saintly mother who
cared for her invalid son until she could no longer do it. The LORD stood with
a neighbor for the ten years of his wife’s illness, nine and a half of which
they did not know the name of her condition.
These statements are basic thoughts of the Christian
belief as I understand the faith. The above-stated examples are of people who are
or have been dear to me in my Christian walk.
Thanks for this encouraging post. You are a blessing.
ReplyDeleteSylvia: Thank you for your warm thoughts.
DeleteI love this post and that picture is so wonderful...one of my favorites of all time. I also love that you used the words "Fear and Courage" in your title. I remember my son Matthew saying these words before he passed away from cancer five years ago. The hospice chaplain asked him what was on his mind, and that is what he said...and I know that the Lord gave him the courage to face his fears and to leave this life to live eternally with Christ in joy and peace and comfort and victory. So we do not need to fear...Christ gives us the courage we need to face our enemies every day. So thankful for His promises and provision. This was good, thank you!!!
ReplyDeletePam: Thank you. I appreciate your thoughts. I type this as I await the time to accompany my dear friend, Martha, as we go to a mortuary to pay our respects to the family of a lady in our church. Late this morning, I received a call from the church. A lady with whom I have worshiped most of 34 years was in the final stages of life. I chose to go down to the hospital and sit with the family for a while. Hubby and I had to go to the store and have lunch. While we were eating I received a call from another long-standing friend telling me that the lady had gone to be with Jesus. Both these women displayed courage to me at different times in my life. Peace and blessings.
Delete