Isaiah 43:1-3

“But now, O Jacob, listen to the Lord who created you. O Israel, the one who formed you says, “Do not be afraid, for I have ransomed you. I have called you by name; you are mine. 2 When you go through deep waters, I will be with you. When you go through rivers of difficulty, you will not drown. When you walk through the fire of oppression, you will not be burned up; the flames will not consume you. 3 For I am the Lord, your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior. I gave Egypt as a ransom for your freedom; I gave Ethiopia and Seba in your place.”

Not only does the Father speak the words “But now” and “fear not” but He also says:

• I Will Be With You

Another great stress in many people’s lives is fear of failure and the fear of going under. Problems have a way of pulling us down and causing us to feel overwhelmed. The good news is that God will carry and bring us through, that’s the promise of verse 2: “When you go through deep waters, I will be with you. When you go through rivers of difficulty, you will not drown. When you walk through the fire of oppression, you will not be burned up; the flames will not consume you.” We have the promise of God’s presence. God never tells us that there won’t be high waters, raging rivers or blazing fires in our lives. He just says when you are in the middle of the mess, when things are at the worst fear not for I am with you. Stress free living isn’t the absence of pressure it’s the presence of God. If God’s Will brings you to it then His grace will bring you through it. Because of the Father you will make it through the floods and the fires. Often because of our fear of the fires and the floods we try to flee in our own strength, we turn to manmade ways of coping which end up creating more mess. This passage makes it clear that there is no alternative to the Almighty. You can try to avoid the waters of worry but self-effort will always fail. Man’s escape mechanisms, whether it be alcohol, drugs, or denial will not work. You will either face the floods and the fire in the Saviors strength or self-strength. While we will all face the waters they just won’t all be the same waters. Some will go through the waters of poverty, while others will face poor health, some will wade through the waters of abuse and discrimination while others face loneliness and loss. While the waters that we face may differ our deliver doesn’t, we may have different storms but we have the same Savior. There is a poem by Henry Crowell, “When Thou Passest Through the Waters” that perfectly captures the truth of Isaiah 43:2

“Do you feel your heart discouraged as you pass along the way?

Does there seem to be more darkness than there is of sunny day?

It is hard to learn the lesson, as we pass beneath the rod,

That the sunshine and the shadow serve alike the will of God.

But to me there comes a promise, like the promise of the bow,

That however deep the waters, they shall never overflow.

“When the flesh is worn and weary and the spirit is depressed,

When temptation comes upon you like a storm on ocean’s breast,

There’s a haven ever ready for the tempest-driven bird,

There is shelter for the tempted in the promise of His Word;

For the standard of the Spirit shall be raised against the foe,

And however deep the waters, they shall never overflow.

“When sorrow comes upon you that no other soul can share,

And the burden seems too heavy for the human heart to bear,

There is One whose grace can comfort if you’ll give Him an abode,

There’s a Burden-bearer ready if you’ll trust Him with your load;

For the precious promise reaches to the depth of human woe,

That however deep the waters, they shall never overflow.

“When the sands of life are ebbing and I near dark Jordan’s shore,

When I see the billows rising and I hear the waters roar,

I’ll reach out my hand to Jesus, in His bosom I will hide;

It will only be a moment ‘till I reach the other side.

It is then the fullest meaning of the promise I shall know:

“When thou passest through the waters they shall never overflow.”

…..Henry Crowell

The reason that God can say, “Fear not” is that we belong to Him and no matter what happens, He will walk with us through the worst times. We have a Father who is faithful not only in the fair weather but also in the foul, through the floods and the fire.  Not only does He say “I Will Be With You” be He also says:

• I AM

Faith listens for two more words that can cause our fear to flee, “I am.” In verse 3 God reminds us of His power over the problems and the pain of slavery that His people faced in Egypt. “For I am the Lord, your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.” When Moses stood before the burning bush when God called him to lead the Israelites out of slavery he asked, “Who shall I say sent me?” God told Moses, “You tell Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, that I Am sent you.” Throughout the scriptures God calls himself I Am. For centuries scholars have debated the question, When God calls himself, “I am,” is he simply saying, “I exist, I am the self-existent one,” or is he using the verb in its more dynamic sense, “I am present, I am the cause behind all that is, I am what’s happening?” When you study the way the phrase “I am” is used throughout the Bible, you find that it is almost always connected not only to God’s existence, but to God’s action. In other words, when God says, “I am,” he means, “I am here, I am active I am what’s happening.” So how can hearing God say, “I am,” help us when chaos catches up to and crashes into us? First we need to understand that when calamity comes crashing in we don’t just lose our health, our home, a loved one, our job or our joy we lose our identity. The tragedy is so overwhelming and the grief so all consuming, that often it redefines us. Tragedy can tag us with not only a new and unwelcome label but a new name. You no longer go by your old name, now, you are a widow, a divorcee, an orphan. You’re broke, unemployed, disabled, an adulterer, an addict, a drunk, or a thief. Regardless of whether the catastrophe comes through no fault of your own, or through foolish and sinful choices, you lose more than a few possessions or some precious relationships, you lose yourself. Regardless of how or why you fell into failure you need to listen to the words of your Father, “I am” You may have lost everything, even who you are, but I am, is not only here He is able. As the great I Am reminds them of Egypt He reminds them of His power over the past. We need to remember His power in the past. We need to remember what He has done before and be reminded that He will do it again. The same God that brought you through before, is the same God that will bring you through again. Often when calamity comes we get so consumed and overwhelmed that we forget the past victories. God wants you to know that He still knows how to get people out of Egypt. Remembering the great I Am helps us to stop focusing on the suffering and start focusing on the Savior. As you look back on your life when have you experienced His presence and His power? Are you going to focus on His promises or on your problems?

26 Words for Worried Times – Part 1

Isaiah 43:1-3

“But now, O Jacob, listen to the Lord who created you. O Israel, the one who formed you says, “Do not be afraid, for I have ransomed you. I have called you by name; you are mine. 2 When you go through deep waters, I will be with you. When you go through rivers of difficulty, you will not drown. When you walk through the fire of oppression, you will not be burned up; the flames will not consume you. 3 For I am the Lord, your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior. I gave Egypt as a ransom for your freedom; I gave Ethiopia and Seba in your place.”

In the midst of our worst fears come the faithful words of our Father:

• BUT NOW

The first two words to listen for and pay attention too are the first two words in Isaiah 43; “But now.” With God there is always a “But now … ” Even in the darkest despair we can have hope because of Him. It’s in the depths of our despair that God speaks words of life, the worst has happened, the thing you feared most has overtaken you But NOW God reveals his providential hand. When fear comes faith always looks to and listens for the “But now …. “ We have a God that wants to give us a new perspective and a new promise. The bible is filled with God’s “But Now’s” In Matthew chapter 8 we find a man stricken with leprosy. His facial features are slowly rotting away, his hands and feet end, not with fingers and toes, but useless stubs. The nerve receptors in his skin have been destroyed, making him unable to feel and so he is susceptible to injury and infection. Wounds he doesn’t even realize he has fester and ooze with infection. His community has rejected him, his religion has condemned him, even his family has forsaken him. He finds himself living in the fear of failing health and being forsaken by family and friends. But then he meets the Messiah and with two words, Jesus changes everything. For the leper, God’s “But now,” is “Be clean.” His fear is replaced by faith, his failing health is replaced with healing, and rejection is replaced with rejoicing.  Over in Mark chapter 4 we find the disciples casting off to row across the familiar waters of Lake Galilee. Several of them had spent most of their life trolling these waters and would have been as familiar with the tides and currents of the sea as they were the streets of their home towns. They had nothing to fear because everything was familiar and besides, Jesus was right there with them asleep in the stem. What could possibly go wrong? But soon the calm sea begun to churn, the wind whistled and the waves washed over their boat. The boat began to be battered by the storm, no sooner had it crashed over one wave than it began to climb the next. They start to sink as wave after wave washes more water over the side of the side of their boat than they can bail. In a few moments the boat will capsize and they will all be swept under. As their worst fears become a reality they cry out and God’s “But now,” for the disciples comes again in two words, “Be still.” You see for every sickness, for every storm, for every discouragement and every defeat, for every failure and every fear, God has an answer. When the worst becomes a reality faith looks and listens for God to say, “But now.” We have a God who can turn our groaning to gladness, our problems to praise and our sorrows to song. Not only does faith listens for the words “But Now” when things are at their worst but also the words:

• FEAR NOT

Judging from the response of those in the Bible who saw angels they are fearsome to behold. When they appeared people usually responded with fear, either fainting, or falling face down on the ground and the first words angels usually spoke were, “Fear not.” But in our culture we have so romanticized angels that I think we have lost an appreciation for this. The same is true of Jesus, because of popular paintings many of us have a mental picture of a meek and mild Messiah. Yet when the disciples saw him walking on the water they mistook Him for a ghost, and Jesus had to tell them, “Fear not.” The same thing also happened after His resurrection, again the disciples mistook the Messiah for a ghost and again He offered them the promise of peace. How is it that God, His Son, and His angels can so confidently command His people to “Fear not?” Are they living in some kind of divine state of denial? Don’t they see the chaos and concern, don’t they care about the pain and the problems we are going through? The answer is seen in the words that follow, Fear not, “I have ransomed you. I have called you by name; you are mine.” We no longer have to fear because we are:

1. Bought

We are the redeemed; we have been bought by His blood. On the cross of Calvary Jesus Christ defeated the devil and He defeated death. One of man’s greatest fears is that of dying, but because of Jesus we no longer have to fear death. Not only does the power of His blood free us from future fears but it also provides us a promise over our past. Because we are redeemed our past is passed away. For many our past can be a prison, one of our greatest sources of stress. Instead of living in the redemption we end up living in the regret. But on the cross Christ canceled the debt; He paid the price for our past. We have been bought and brought out of the slave market of sin, not only saved but set free to walk in the newness of life. Because of God we no longer have to live in guilt, we are forgiven and free; our sin is removed from us as far as the east is from the west. When the enemy tries to intimidate you with your past mistakes and regrets remind him you are redeemed. Not only are we bought but second we

2. Belong

“I have called you by name; you are mine” One of our greatest fears is being forsaken. Every one of us has a need to be needed. We all long to belong and God reminds us that He not only knows us but wants us. We are his very own and are called by His Name, 2 Chronicles 7:14 says: “If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.” We belong to God, we are called by His name, and He can say, “Fear not,” because God knows that he’s going to be with us no matter what. When fear comes look to and listen for the words of your Father, remember the “But now’s” and “fear nots” for you have been bought by Him and you belong to Him. As you look back on your life what are the “But Now’s” and the “Fear Nots” God has spoken into your life? Take time to remember and record God’s faithfulness in your life, write them down share them with your family and friends.