Isaiah 41:10
"So do not fear, for l am with you; do not be dismayed, for l am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand."
In the book Isaiah 39:6-8, God told Hezekiah of the impending exile of his descendants to Babylon, but assured him he would already be dead by the time this happened. In our humanness, we can identify with Hezekiah when he thought with relief, "At least there will be peace and security during my lifetime. What a loud voice fear can have. Sometimes it can even overpower the voice of God that gently reassaures us of His nearness.
I have learned in the midst of my struggles as the Bible clearly says in Lamentations 3:57, "you came near when l called you, and you said, "Do not fear." This is so true. God does draw near to us in the midst of our worst fears. Even as we walk through the valley of the shadow of death , death of a loved one, death of our dreams and goals, death of our marriage and relationships; He is with us just as He promised. Not only is He near us, He is also working things out in us, growing our faith and character as we wrestle with our fears and learning to accept His will. While we cannot understand why He allows our fears to materialise, we later realise that we have come to know Him in a whole new way through them. He is our reward for persevering and not staggering.
I have personally come to appreciate whatever l have gone through in my life and while l would not choose to go through them again, I am also grateful ( yes grateful) for all that it has birthed within me as l live out my worst fears. One thing I have learnt in my struggles is that; we will always see Him and we will learn to trust Him in a whole different way. Not only that, we will also come to a new level of faith in our walk with Him.
By Enyonam Gbekle. All rights reserved 2013
"So do not fear, for l am with you; do not be dismayed, for l am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand."
In the book Isaiah 39:6-8, God told Hezekiah of the impending exile of his descendants to Babylon, but assured him he would already be dead by the time this happened. In our humanness, we can identify with Hezekiah when he thought with relief, "At least there will be peace and security during my lifetime. What a loud voice fear can have. Sometimes it can even overpower the voice of God that gently reassaures us of His nearness.
I have learned in the midst of my struggles as the Bible clearly says in Lamentations 3:57, "you came near when l called you, and you said, "Do not fear." This is so true. God does draw near to us in the midst of our worst fears. Even as we walk through the valley of the shadow of death , death of a loved one, death of our dreams and goals, death of our marriage and relationships; He is with us just as He promised. Not only is He near us, He is also working things out in us, growing our faith and character as we wrestle with our fears and learning to accept His will. While we cannot understand why He allows our fears to materialise, we later realise that we have come to know Him in a whole new way through them. He is our reward for persevering and not staggering.
I have personally come to appreciate whatever l have gone through in my life and while l would not choose to go through them again, I am also grateful ( yes grateful) for all that it has birthed within me as l live out my worst fears. One thing I have learnt in my struggles is that; we will always see Him and we will learn to trust Him in a whole different way. Not only that, we will also come to a new level of faith in our walk with Him.
By Enyonam Gbekle. All rights reserved 2013
