Verses for today…

Yesterday was filled with blessing as we worshiped with others, sang praises to God, listened to a challenge to yield our all in serving Jesus, and shared with others what God is doing in our lives. We visited our granddaughter, and even though she had surgery to reset her arm the day before, she was cheerful and thankful. 

I should have woke this morning full of joy, but that was not so. I felt discouraged and useless, without purpose and emotionally drained. Songs of praise didn’t help. Prayer for unsaved family didn’t help. Reading verses and devotional thoughts left me in the same empty place. However, my online Bible opens with an index and includes a daily verse, this time Isaiah 54:11 and God gave me this:

“O afflicted one, storm-tossed and not comforted, behold, I will set your stones in antimony, and lay your foundations with sapphires. I will make your pinnacles of agate, your gates of carbuncles, and all your wall of precious stones. All your children shall be taught by the Lord, and great shall be the peace of your children. In righteousness you shall be established; you shall be far from oppression, for you shall not fear; and from terror, for it shall not come near you. If anyone stirs up strife, it is not from me; whoever stirs up strife with you shall fall because of you. Behold, I have created the smith who blows the fire of coals and produces a weapon for its purpose. I have also created the ravager to destroy; no weapon that is fashioned against you shall succeed, and you shall refute every tongue that rises against you in judgment. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord and their vindication from me, declares the Lord.” (Isaiah 54:11–17)

This passage is near the end of this prophet’s section on comfort after many chapters about God’s judgment. While I’ve not felt under judgment, daily news and situations in the world feel like the entire planet is on a downward slope. The perks of yesterday were like dropping into God’s living room and escaping the bad news for a short while. But as soon as that was over, so went my peace of mind. I felt the affliction and lack of comfort described in this passage, but not the emotions that might go with being decked out in precious jewels.

But then, verse 13. I have this verse in the middle of a photo of my children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren. This is God's precious promise, that my family will have peace as God teaches them.

And here it adds more promises that God makes to His people, promises that the Scriptures tell me I can claim for myself since I am a child of God, by faith like the faith of Abraham. The first is that God will establish me, take me far from the oppression I often feel, and remove me from fear and terror — taking them away.

Next, any strife will not be from Him and it will fail because He has weapons against such things, even those who are against me. My vindication is from Him and my heritage — as His child. The prophet may be speaking of physical opposition and battles, yet this covers the spiritual wars against His people whose exterior situation is without strife but the enemy strikes against our minds.

Yesterday I was thanked for prayers that God answered, asked for help that God enabled me to give, and was given words to encourage others. The enemy doesn’t like that, yet if I put his name into the above passage as the weapons and negatives Isaiah points out as defeated, my heart is lifted again. The truth is: Jesus wins, and because He says “I will. . . . .” then I win also. 

And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God. And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death. (Revelation 12:10–11)

PRAY: Jesus, You are my joy and delight. You overcome the negatives that threaten me, whether their source is bad news, worries and concerns, fearful emotions, or the lies whispered by Satan to take my focus away from You. No weapon that is fashioned against me shall succeed. Because of You, this is my heritage and vindication. You are my righteousness and I am an overcomer and also a winner! How wonderful to belong to You and hear You speak.

 

Protection from being overwhelmed

 

Yesterday someone told me that everyone she talks to is overwhelmed. I nodded for I was feeling like that also. My to-do list was too big and interruptions added to my stress. For the psalmist, it was persecution. For others it is concerns in family and friends. Many things can make us feel unable to go on, or wanting to run away:

My heart is in anguish within me; the terrors of death have fallen upon me. Fear and trembling come upon me, and horror overwhelms me. And I say, “Oh, that I had wings like a dove! I would fly away and be at rest; (Psalm 55:4–6)

For me, I want to dump the list and read a book or have a nap. Others say their escape is ‘clean the house’ or ‘go shopping’ but the better remark was from a person who quoted this verse:

From the end of the earth I will cry to You, When my heart is overwhelmed; Lead me to the rock that is higher than I. (Psalm 61:2)

This made me think about the causes of feeling overwhelmed. Obviously, it is an attack from the enemy who wants to immobilize us with discouragement and get us so battle-weary that we want to stop and run away. One biblical example is Elijah the prophet.

After a confrontation with the prophets of the god Baal, Queen Jezebel threatened to kill him and he ran for his life.

Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword. Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, “So may the gods do to me and more also, if I do not make your life as the life of one of them by this time tomorrow.” Then he was afraid, and he arose and ran for his life and came to Beersheba, which belongs to Judah, and left his servant there. He ran from Mount Carmel into the wilderness of Beersheba, where he sat down under a juniper tree; and he requested for himself that he might die, and said, ‘It is enough; now, O Lord, take my life, for I am not better than my fathers’”  . . . . “I have been very zealous for the Lord, the God of hosts; for the sons of Israel have forsaken Thy covenant, torn down Thine altars and killed Thy prophets with the sword. And I alone am left; and they seek my life, to take it away” (1 Kings 19:1–10)

Several factors caused his emotional state. The first was the victory. It was huge and important, even dramatic. That event must have filled him with elation yet he was no doubt exhausted. This is like most pastors say, the Monday after a God-blessed Sunday worship service is a wipe-out for them. I’ve noted it too, that when God does something wonderful to answer a prayer or surprise me with a great blessing, I’m often emotionally high yet totally exhausted afterwards. I need to take time to rest and be thankful.

Second, Elijah ran to Beersheba from Mount Carmel, a distance of about 95 miles. If he were not exhausted from the emotions of his victory, he would certainly be physically spent from that escape run. Filling our days with more physical work than we can handle and fatigue will be overwhelming, particularly if I add unnecessary tasks to to-do list that come from fear and are not given to me from the Lord.

Another problem for this prophet is that he thought no one cared and that he was alone in his zeal for the Lord. Looking at church problems, the successes of the enemy, and the worldliness that seems to be seeping into the Kingdom will do that if I’m not determined to seek out good news. My prayer lists alone can make me feel overwhelmed. The only way to lift that load is praying with faith and keeping my spiritual armor on, including the helmet of salvation. I also need to connect with others who are faithful to the Lord.

His helmet is my confidence in God’s blessings. For a time after his great victory, Elijah became emotionally, physically, and spiritually spent, and overwhelmed with self-pity as he felt utterly alone. At this, God gave him instructions about what to do next, then told him: “Yet I will leave seven thousand in Israel, all the knees that have not bowed to Baal, and every mouth that has not kissed him.” (1 Kings 19:18)

This was the Lord’s way of urging this man to put on “the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God” (Ephesians 6:17) and get back in the battle. He needed to know that God had not abandoned him, then focus on what’s next, because that “helmet of salvation” was his protection from despair.

PRAY: Jesus, thank You for reminding me repeatedly that all I have in You is enough. You will never leave me or forsake me, and all Your purposes will be accomplished in my life, even in the trials that come. (Hebrews 13:5 and Romans 8:28) Your character never changes and Your promises are irrevocable!

PONDER: When I feel overwhelmed, check what I do or overdo that adds to the problem. Also read and rely on God’s promises in Isaiah 40:29–31 and Galatians 6:9.