Sounds a little daunting, doesn't it? One thing I have learned during the past week is that I must be selfish during the next 7-8 weeks. By selfish, I mean I need to spend time with God on a daily basis, and stay in His Word. I have missed a few days of quiet time, and already I feel the world's pressures, my own fears and insecurities, and even the pain of seeing those I love suffer threatening to overwhelm me.
I have so many good things in my life--family (fantastic husband, kids, grandkids), friends, church, my home, BSF (my Bible study group) are just a few. But here's a verse from Psalm 16 I have highlighted in my Bible:
You are my Lord;Perhaps the psalmist is not saying all the things we value in our earthly lives are not good (some, like our family and friends, are truly wonderful gifts* from God), but that apart from God, they are not good, implying that once He gives us a glimpse of His incomparable goodness, we realize the things of earth--even the best things--truly cannot compare to Him in all His fullness and glory. As humans, we have such a high regard for the things we value, and it almost seems sacrilegious to call those things"not good."
apart from you I have no good thing.
Chapter 40 in Isaiah puts things in a different perspective, when God questions us, asking us to consider who or what might be compared to Him. An amazing chapter, He beings by proclaiming comfort for God's people and prophesying about the coming of John the Baptist, who will prepare the way for Jesus. Then in verses 6-8, the familiar passage about how "All men are like grass . . . the grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God stands forever." From verse 12 until the end of the chapter, God asks a series of questions that continue to illustrate His greatness and our smallness. Big topics--even for us, who think we are so wise!--creation, knowledge, the nations:
12 Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand,
or with the breadth of his hand marked off the heavens?
Who has held the dust of the earth in a basket,
or weighed the mountains on the scales
and the hills in a balance?
13 Who can fathom the Spirit[a] of the LORD,
or instruct the LORD as his counselor?
14 Whom did the LORD consult to enlighten him,
and who taught him the right way?
Who was it that taught him knowledge,
or showed him the path of understanding?
15 Surely the nations are like a drop in a bucket;
they are regarded as dust on the scales;
he weighs the islands as though they were fine dust.
16 Lebanon is not sufficient for altar fires,
nor its animals enough for burnt offerings.
17 Before him all the nations are as nothing;
they are regarded by him as worthless
and less than nothing.
18 With whom, then, will you compare God?
To what image will you liken him?
. . .
21 Do you not know?
Have you not heard?
Has it not been told you from the beginning?
Have you not understood since the earth was founded?
22 He sits enthroned above the circle of the earth,
and its people are like grasshoppers.
He stretches out the heavens like a canopy,
and spreads them out like a tent to live in.
23 He brings princes to naught
and reduces the rulers of this world to nothing.
24 No sooner are they planted,
no sooner are they sown,
no sooner do they take root in the ground,
than he blows on them and they wither,
and a whirlwind sweeps them away like chaff.
25 “To whom will you compare me?
Or who is my equal?” says the Holy One.
26 Lift up your eyes and look to the heavens:
Who created all these?
He who brings out the starry host one by one
and calls forth each of them by name.
Because of his great power and mighty strength,
not one of them is missing.
Men like grasshoppers? Holds the waters in the hollow of His hand? Nations like a drop in the bucket? That's the God I serve--the One who cares for me! I remember when I studied this chapter a few weeks ago, I could not help but put my name in place of "Jacob" and "Israel" in verse 27 (below). My way is not hidden from the Lord. He knows exactly what is going on in my life at this moment and every moment. And I praise Him!
27 Why do you complain, Jacob?
Why do you say, Israel,
“My way is hidden from the LORD;
my cause is disregarded by my God”?
28 Do you not know?
Have you not heard?
The LORD is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He will not grow tired or weary,
and his understanding no one can fathom.
29 He gives strength to the weary
and increases the power of the weak.
30 Even youths grow tired and weary,
and young men stumble and fall;
31 but those who hope in the LORD
will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
they will run and not grow weary,
they will walk and not be faint.
God must have been at work when His Word was separated into chapters and verses, because this chapter seems so complete to me. It begins with comfort, goes on to illustrate the incomparable greatness of God and our place in His plan, and it ends with not only more comfort, but also the promise of strength for those who hope in the Lord.
When I started writing this blog post today, I had something different in mind and was not even thinking of Chapter 40 of Isaiah. (In fact, I had to change the title of the blog : ) But praise God that He knows what we need and when we need it. So many questions He presents to us in this passage of scripture, but the one--and only--answer is that people need the Lord.
May God bless all of you today . . . I appreciate so much your support and prayers and thoughtfulness!
(OK..I'm ready for this week.)
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(added 3/31/11)
*I called these wonderful gifts, but Charles Spurgeon says our loved ones, friends, and earthly comforts "are not gifts, for all that we possess is God's property. He has only lent them, and what he lends He has a right to take." Spurgeon reminds us (as others have done), to "hold all things loosely. Look at them as fleeting ; never expect them to remain." Good advice, but hard to follow. We hold things so tightly in this world--and, interestingly, at the same time we are holding things tightly, most of us as looking to see what else we can/should have, thinking maybe that next thing or person will make me happy. What a sense of peace it brings to know we are in God's hands, everything belongs to Him, and we can trust Him with not only all we have and don't have, but our very lives, body and soul. Praise Him!
Great analogy! God is good, and He is awesome. You are in terrific and capable hands. I think of the song, "What a Friend we have in Jesus"!
ReplyDeleteI will talk with you soon.
Dawn