When You Find Yourself Where You Don’t Want to Be
This morning I had a mobility scooter delivered to help me navigate the property here at the resort. My ambulation is certainly better and improving, but my energy level and strength has its limits. I was finding by the time I “got somewhere” I didn’t have the strength I needed to enjoy the activity. So I took advantage of the assistance and got out more often and longer and enjoyed a greater variety of activity.
BIBLE VERSE FOR TODAY… “So don’t worry, because I am with you. Don’t be afraid, because I am your God.
I will make you strong and will help you; I will support you with my right hand that saves you.” Isaiah 41:10 NCV
The Children of Israel have had an interesting history for sure. God demonstrated the fulfillment of His promise to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob more in spite than because of God’s people. We see God bringing them into existence from slavery in Egypt. Hundreds of years later God would bring them from captivity to restore them to their land and to re-establish them as a nation. And even in “modern history” we see Israel once again established as a nation among nations in 1947. Ever since then, Jewish pilgrims have found their way back to “their land.”
Over the generations and even millennium God’s people have found themselves “where they didn’t want to be.” Whether slaves, defeated by enemies in the Promised Land, judged by the Lord, in captivity by a foreign godless nation, or the struggle of being re-established in the land. The circumstances of the nation are reflective of individuals in the Bible and even our life today.
Often we find ours “where we didn’t want to be….where we don’t want to be…” Perhaps that is facing the loss of a job, the loss of a marriage, financial bankruptcy, the loss of a loved, or as in my situation bed-ridden and disabled by an unexpected and rare health crisis. The list can seem endless.
What I have found, is that regardless of how you ended up in “those” types of situations, it doesn’t matter about the details or circumstances that brought you to that point – the issue is you are there!
It was when God’s people who were in one of those, “circumstances where they did not want to be” that we find some of the most well know and reassuring words of scripture. The words that are found in the New Kings James Version may seem more familiar to many, “Fear not, for I am with you; Be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, Yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.” (Isa. 41:10 NKJV)
What is it that we need to know, that we need to remind ourselves in “those” types of circumstances? We need to remember that….
The Lord is with us…and He is God! When we realize that the Lord is with us and His awesome power, it drives out fear and confronts our worry about life and the future. We can reassured of God’s care, just as Jesus spoke of in Matthew 6:33 (NLT) “…don’t worry about these things [food, clothing, shelter]….your heavenly Father already knows all your needs.” If there Lord can provide the basics and essentials, He can provide all that we need. God’s love for us is perfect and “perfect love drives out all fear….” (1 John 4:18 NIV)
We can take heart because the Lord is the eternal God and He is not going any where! “I, the Lord, am the one. I was here at the beginning, and I will be here when all things are finished.” Isa. 41:4 NCV
We need to remember that the Lord’s strength and support is being extended to us in our time of need. It may come through various sources and in various ways. That is what I observed in my many months of illness and prolonged recovery. Sometimes God intervenes sovereignly doing only what He can do. At others times He uses people as His agents of encouragement and help. We see the Apostle Paul alluding to this, “But God, who encourages those who are discouraged, encouraged us by the arrival of Titus.” (2 Cor. 7:6 NLT) At another time we see the Lord speaking directly to Paul and saying, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” (2 Cor. 12:9 ESV)
Strength and support. At times the Lord empowers us to do what we in our own strength cannot and could not other wise do. At other times, we move forward one step in front of the other, taking each day at a time, being “carried” by the Lord. I think of being in a swimming pool with my grandchildren and them laying back while I support them and carry them along. For me, that is a good imagery of the Lord providing us the support we need as we relax in His care.
What do we do, when we find ourselves where we don’t want to be? The concepts can seem trite, but we need to remember their power. God is with us. He is providing the strength and support that we need as we trust in Him and rest in Him.