The Verse of the Day

-July 19, 2020-

Good morning, happy Lord’s Day,

-God Is With Us To Help Us Through The Tough Times-

“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.”

(Isaiah 41:10).

We have all heard the phrase, “It packs a punch.” That can certainly be said of today’s verse. In this case, it is a punch fill of promises. It is so encouraging, comforting, and uplifting. God is a God of promises, and He stands behind them and fulfills them all; so unlike our political leaders today.

The Lord created us and He knows our propensity to fear and intimidation. It is no surprise that Satan knows this also, and he attacks us when we are weak. The two commands in our text are easy to understand but much harder to do: “Fear not,” and “Be not dismayed.” In Scripture, these two bullies often appear together to try to bring us down.

There are plenty of things to make us fear and panic in this world, but the Lord wants us to walk by faith and trust Him. Instead of fear, He gives faith, and instead of panic, He gives peace. What a wonderful transaction we make when we pray at the throne of grace.

The five promises in this verse are to fortify us in the tough times of life. As believers in Christ we are not immune from pain, trouble, affliction, difficulty, tragedy, sickness, and death; but we, unlike unbelievers, we have the Lord and He is with to carry us through. Notice how personal God’s promises are:

1. “I am with you.” – The Lord has promised to be with us and to never leave us nor forsake us. He does not make us go through hard times alone. He walks with us and like in the poem, “Footprints,” He carries us when things are really hard, leaving just one set of footprints.

2. “I am your God.” – The Lord is the only true God. All other gods are idols. They have eyes, but cannot see; ears, but cannot hear; mouths but cannot speak; legs and feet but cannot walk.

3. “I will strengthen you.” – At our strongest, we are weak and frail. The Lord is omnipotent. There is no limit to His strength and we need His strength so badly. God told Paul, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness” (2 Corinthians 12:9). We only receive God’s strength in its fullest when we first recognize our weakness.

4. “Yes, I will help you.” – It almost as if the Lord anticipates our concerns we have in the really tough times, “Does God really care for me? Will He really take the time to help me? The answer is: Yes, He does and He will. Part of the wedding vows say, “in sickness and in health.” We can count on God’s help. He response to us is much faster than any 9-1-1 call.

5. “I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.” – The Lord will not only hold us but He will uphold us. He will not allow our feet to slip or for us to fall. His righteous right hand upholds in the midst of our storms. He only us with one hand and steers our ship with the other!

These are indeed five great promises. If you haven’t memorized this verse, it is a great one to commit to memory and use in the tough times of life. If you underline or highlight verses in your Bible, this is one to do both.

May the Lord help us to claim these five promises like five guard dogs that follow us to help and protect us. The Lord promises to be with us, to be our God, to strengthen us, to help us, and to uphold us. We are safe in the arms of Jesus.

Have a blessed day in and with the Lord no matter what comes our way. Stay safe and healthy.

Dean