When Life Seems Overwhelming (Isaiah 43:1-3a)

Isaiah 43:1-3a
But now thus says the Lord, he who created you, O Jacob, He who formed you, O Israel: “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you. For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.
 
I have been thinking about these verses a lot lately. As someone who has struggled with depression in the past, I’ve felt that it is always beneficial to have several promises from the Lord memorized that I can fall back onto. Life can be crazy. In the words of a famous teenager from the 1980’s, “Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.” There is so much going on in our lives that it can be easy to forget that nothing happens by accident and that God is totally in control of our lives. There is not a single atom in all creation that God is not completely sovereign over. R.C. Sproul once wrote, “If there is one single molecule in this universe running around loose, totally free of God’s sovereignty, then we have no guarantee that a single promise of God will ever be fulfilled.” Sometimes it feels like God is totally in control of the universe but it feels like He is missing in our lives. We struggle with the idea that God really does love us as much as He says He does and there is never a moment where we fail to be in His arms. Isaiah 43:1-3 is proof of that. Notice how the Lord says to Israel, “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine.” These are not the words of some far off, distant, cold, unloving God that has just left the world to its own devices. These are the words of a close, loving, merciful, caring Savior. He tells his people that they have no reason to fear because He has acted for their salvation. He has called them by name (evidence of a close, personal relationship that He has with them) and He is the one who holds onto them. They belong to Him. Then in verse 2 He says, “When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you.” God never promises us that life will be easy but He does promise to be with us every step of the way. We might still need to go through the raging rivers and the blazing fire, but we are not alone. The Lord Himself goes with us and because He goes with us, we know that we can and will endure. Sometimes we like to think that because we are in Christ, we are immune to the difficulties of this world. We still live in a fallen world. Bones will still break, aging will continue to happen, our mental and emotional health may suffer, we will see loved ones pass, and we will see sin all around us. We are still impacted by the fall and the whole world is waiting for the day of its redemption. But God is still on the throne. The waters may rage and the fire may fall but God is with us every step of the way. He is the Lord our God, the Holy One of Israel, our Savior. I have found great comfort in these verses. The trials that I may face are not evidence that God is against me, they are a reminder that even in my hardest times, God will never leave me and He is walking alongside me. If I can trust God to be with me when things are going well, I know that I can continue to trust Him when things are bleak. Charles Spurgeon says it best, “The godly have the best company in the worst places in which their lot is cast. God’s presence is all that we need even in the deepest floods of tribulation; this he has promised to us. He does not say what he will do for us, but he does tell us that he will be with us, and that is more than enough to meet all our necessities.”
 
-Brady

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