"What time I am afraid, I will trust in Thee." Psalm 56:3
I’m going to be all over the map–or Bible!–tonight as the Lord has used many Scriptures in the last few days to really minister to me.
I have a plan to read through the Bible that I really like. I’ve used it for nearly 10 years now, and am always amazed at how the Lord weaves my readings together! I usually read 3 chapters in the section of the Bible for the day (more on that in a little bit), 2 Psalms and 1 chapter of Proverbs daily. I used to read 5 Psalms to get through the whole book of Psalms every month, but I felt I was just racing through them, so I cut it back to 2. I still get through the entire book of Psalms maybe 4-5 times a year, which still isn’t bad!
My "plan", which I found somewhere on the internet in 2000 or 2001, was this:
Monday- Law Books (Genesis through Deuteronomy)
Tuesday- History Books (Joshua through Esther)
Wednesday- Poetry Books (Job through Song of Solomon–but I skip Psalms and Proverbs when I come to them as I read them monthly)
Thursday- Major Prophets (Isaiah through Daniel)
Friday- Minor Prophets (Hosea through Malachi)
Saturday- Gospels (I added through 2 Corinthians to this)
Sunday- Epistles (Galatians through Revelation)
This has worked very well for me, and I share it in case it helps someone else! I usually end up reading through the Bible in 15-18 months.
Sometimes I get "behind" my schedule, due to things that come up (or insane times like the 4-H Fair!), but I am awed at how God arranges my "readings" to speak to me in just the situation I’m in–even if it’s "behind schedule"! 
Thursday was like that. I was reading in Isaiah, and chapter 7 had a lot of encouragement. I still don’t read everything that I can on what’s going on in the world (I would only need to read my Bible to see that, too, lately!), but I have read a little. It can be very disconcerting, to say the least. But as I’ve "preached" before, where is our focus to be?
Not on circumstances, whether personal or national or global.
But on God. God Almighty. THE Omnipotent (that’s ALL powerful), Omniscent (ALL knowing), Omnipresent (ALWAYS everywhere) God!
In Isaiah 7 Isaiah is comforting Ahaz with God’s omnipotence. We have to remember, when evil things are happening, that evil is not in control. God is. Always. No matter how it looks. It’s a matter of our eyesight–is it on things seen, like Elisha’s servant, or things unseen?
"And when the servant of the man of God was risen early, and gone forth, behold, an host compassed the city both with horses and chariots. And his servant said unto him, Alas, my master! how shall we do?
"And he answered, Fear not: for they that be with us are more than they that be with them.
"And Elisha prayed, and said, Lord, I pray thee, open his eyes, that he may see. And the Lord opened the eyes of the young man; and he saw: and, behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha." II Kings 6:15-17
So Isaiah is telling Ahaz, "Take heed, and be quiet; fear not, neither be fainthearted for the two tails of thse smoking firebrands, for the fierce anger of Rezin with Syria, and of the son of Remaliah." (Isaiah 7:4)
The Jewish Tanakh reads, "Be firm and calm".
Doesn’t sound like he needed to be fretting and fearful! In fact, I believe God tells us in His Word to "fear not" over 350 times, and He certainly says to "fret not" many times, too!
Also, God had told Isaiah to take with him his son Shearjashub. In those times, you didn’t just name your son "Pete" because you liked it, or because you wanted to name him after Great-Great-Grandpa. Names had meanings. Shearjashub means "a remnant will repent". I wish I could remember the sermon Ray Wenger had preached on this very subject a few years back! But can you imagine King Ahaz, concerned and fearful about Rezin and Pekah coming against Jerusalem, but not able to prevail against it (Isaiah 7:1)? Then here comes the prophet, the man of God, with a word from the Lord. Not only that, but he is bringing his son….whose very name means "A remnant will repent".
I believe there is a dual meaning here. Isaiah goes on to say that Rezin and Pekah will not be successful (verse 7). But also I believe God is saying, "Keep your heart soft, Ahaz. Repent. I will take care of your enemies, but don’t make Me your enemy by being stiffnecked." We see a few more verses on a warning:
"If ye will not believe, surely ye shall not be establised." (verse 9)
Will we look to the help of man? Do we depend on the right circumstances, the right leadership, the right laws, the right whatever to save us?
Or on the Lord God?
In verse 13 God says, "hear ye now, O house of David; Is it a small thing for you to weary men, but will ye weary my God also?"
Why did He say that? Because Ahaz, because the people of Judah, were about to put their trust in the aid of Assyria instead of their Lord. He had told Ahaz to ask a sign, and Ahaz "piously" refused, not discerning why Isaiah said what he did.
How many times is God offering us a word of encouragement, asking us to put our trust wholly in Him, and we’ve already made up our minds to trust in man or man’s ways?
Ouch!
Later in Isaiah 8, God gives Isaiah clear direction, which really spoke to my heart.
"For the Lord spake thus to me with a strong hand, and instructed me that I should not walk in the way of this people, saying,
Say ye not, A confederacy (Tanakh–conspiracy), to all them to whom this people shall say, A confederacy; neither fear ye their fear, nor be afraid..
"Sanctify the Lord of hosts Himself; and let Him be your fear, and let Him be your dread. (Hold Him in awe–Tanakh)." Isaiah 8:11-13
Again I am reminded of Whom I should fear—and it’s not the circumstances around me! It is the Only One Who has the answers, that is truly in control of the whole earth–God Almighty!
So today, I read in Matthew 10:26, 28, and 31:
"Fear them not therefore…….And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul; but rather fear Him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell…Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows."
That’s pretty clear! I am to fear nothing but God Himself! And I am to put my trust in nothing but God Himself!
During my reading time this morning, I got interrupted. During that time I became aware of some not-so-great news of some of the things going on in the nation. When I returned, I was ready to read Psalm 108. The timing was, again, perfect!
Right off the bat, I read:
"O God, my heart is fixed; I will sing and give praise, even with my glory.
"Awake, psaltery and harp: I myself will awake early.
"I will praise Thee, O Lord, among the people: and I will sing praises unto Thee among the nations." verses 1-3
WOW! I am to fix my heart on Him!!!
The whole Psalm is SO good, but it ends as good as it starts:
"Give us help from trouble: for vain is the help of man.
"Through God we shall do valiantly: for He is is that shall tread down our enemies."
I am not saying that I expect to avoid all suffering. I have been through too much already to buy that! BUT, through all I’ve been through, the loss of our son 19 years ago, Anna’s auto-immune disorder 10 years ago, Bekah’s accident 5 years ago, Dallas’ accident almost 5 years ago, my dad’ decline in health and death, helping my mom, miscarriages…..I’ve been through too much and have seen God’s hand, even in the midst of suffering, to not believe that He will take care of me and my own.
But I have to surrender it all to Him.
Andrew Murray said, "It is only the fully surrendered heart that can fully trust God for all that He has promised."
I have a note to that paper in my Bible. "If I am fearful/doubtful/fretful–it is because I have not fully surrendered an area of my life to Him."
My life, my finances, my family……ALL must be surrendered, or I will make decisions out of fear.
And you can bet they won’t be His decisions!
Instead of a hymn or song this time, I leave you with a video of Josef Tson, a pastor from Romania. This video is from 1989, when he was exiled from his country before communism fell. It’s an hour long, but please take time to watch it. We have so much to learn here in America. If our goal is to survive, we’ll compromise. If our goal is to glorify God, and we have surrendered all to Him, keeping our hearts pure before Him, then we will see Him move mightily on our behalf, even if it means death. You can’t have the faith of Daniel or Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego unless you are willing to glorify God to the end! Remember Jesus’ words in Matthew 10:32-33,
"Whosoever therefore shall confess Me before men, him will I confess also before My Father which is in heaven. But whosoever shall deny Me before men, him will I also deny before My Father which is in heaven."
Oh, may we be found a pure and spotless Bride, bringing glory and delight to our Bridegroom by confessing Him always!
Thanks for bearing with my extra long post today!
May the God of Peace and Comfort bless you abundantly as you seek His face above all!!!
Here is the link for the video of Josef Tson– Revival Forum. You will need to scroll about halfway down. I could not get the audio alone to work, so I clicked on the video one and was able to watch it. Here is the description of the video:
"Exiled Romanian pastor Joseph Tson shares how the brutal persecution in his native land in the early 1970’s led many to the great sin of desiring to survive. Revival occurred when repentance and surrender to Jesus Christ were preached. He shares a very strong warning against the weaknesses that have crept into American evangelicalism, such as replacing ‘commitment’ for ‘surrender’ and ‘servant’ for ‘slave’."
Dallas now thinks it may be the head gasket that is the problem on our big van, which is obviously a more serious issue! We can’t even get it in to be checked until next week—so we’ll be playing ferry with the mini van until then! 
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