Let me tell you this: God has blessed me with this scripture from Isaiah chapter 40. I was reading my daily portion of scripture, and this passage lit up my heart. At the time, I was feeling so alone, so under appreciated, so unseen and unknown. These thoughts took over my mind. And I am sure that at least one of you have felt this at some point in your life.
I sat down on my bed for the night, and I opened up the Bible. Beginning to read from Isaiah chapter 40, I began to be filled with peace. My mind was set at ease for the time that I was reading. It felt as though all of the thoughts of loneliness and abandonment faded into the background as the Word came alive and bright in my mind. It sounds strange, but that is the only way that I can describe what I felt at that time. And just to be clear, I have felt this many times before when reading scripture. But this time, it was glorious and profound. This time it felt as though God placed His gentle, loving hands on my cheeks, looked into my eyes, and said, “Listen to Me. I have some comfort to gift to you, My child.”
To set a little background into what I have been experiencing for a while now, I must be transparent and vulnerable. I have been pushing myself to do more and more. I have been trying to keep up with my four boys and husband. I have been serving them in love for as long has my boys have been alive. Acts of service and quality time are what one would call my “love languages.” So when I see a need in one of my loved one’s life, I try to fill that need. And sometimes, I take on the tasks of things that I should not be doing in an attempt to show them love. Some of the things that I am doing for them, they should be doing to mature themselves and prepare themselves for life outside of their parents’ home. And yet, I keep seeing the need and attempting to fill that need. It is almost automatic.
The problem isn’t the ‘doing’ of the things. The problem is feeling as though none of it is seen and appreciated in the slightest. All of my service is unnoticed and taken for granted. This leads me to be discouraged. And that leads me to the thought, “what is the point of doing it if no one notices?”
This is just one of the mental attitudes that I am struggling with. Another would be the destruction of cancer that is disrupting my physical and mental faculties. Cancer is such a mean thing. It takes away so much. However, it is strengthening me. James 1:2-4 says in the English Standard Version, “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.”
A note in my Life Application Study Bible for the beginning of James says, “In the Christian life, there are trials and temptations. Successfully overcoming these adversities produces maturity and strong character.” It goes on to say that the importance of trials are giving us patience and keeping us strong in times of trial. God definitely strengthened me using my various experiences of hurt and destruction in my life. Looking back on them, I have only one explanation on how I even got through them, and that is Jesus. I have no other explanation, because there is none. I was ready to end everything at one point. I was so tired, broken, and couldn’t see any way make it stop other than just ending life. However, God saw it, and brought my attention back to Him.
Even the strongest people get tired sometimes, But God’s power and strength never diminish. He is never too busy. He is never too tired. He is always present. He sees when we are hurting and when we are joyful. He sees when what we need, when we need it, and how we need His provision delivered, which leads me to the Isaiah 40 passage. The verses being quoted here are verses 28 and 29. (A little side note with this passage is that I am going to repeat it from a couple of translations.)
"Have you not known? Have you not heard? Jehovah, the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth; He is not faint, nor grows weary; there is no searching to His understanding. He gives power to the faint, and to him with no vigor He increases might." (The Interlinear Bible: Hebrew, Greek, English; A Literal Translation of the Bible, 1985 by Jay Green, Sr.)
"Knows thou not? or hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the Lord hath created the ends of the earth? he neither fainteth, nor is weary: there is no searching of his understanding. But he giveth strength unto him that fainteth, and unto him that hath no strength he increaseth power." (The Geneva Bible, 1560)
A little side note on the Geneva Bible, 1560 edition, in the margins there are notes. And on this particular set of verses, there are two side notes. One says in relation to where it says, “The Lord hath created the ends of the earth,” the note says, “And therefore all power is in his hand to deliver when his time cometh.” God has all power. This is made evident to us by His creation of the “ends of the earth.” The second note is in relation to “there is no searching of his understanding,” to which the side note says, “Showing that man must patiently abide and not curiously seek out the cause of God’s delay in our afflictions.” Wow! That second note really got me thinking about all of the times I would wonder why God hasn’t taken away the difficult situation or fixed whatever problem I was having. I was misinterpreting the scripture of “Ask and you shall receive,” often quoted by people. It is all according to the All-knowing, All-seeing, Almighty God that things are accomplished.
"Have you never heard? Have you never understood? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of all the earth. He never grows weak or weary. No one can measure the depths of his understanding. He gives power to the weak and strength to the powerless." (The New Living Translation)
"Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? there is no searching of his understanding. He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength." (King James Version)
I give you all of these different translations to give a fuller picture of what is being communicated here. This was being said to the Israelites, however, we can learn something of God in this. This is letting us know just Who God is. He sees and knows everything. He holds all power and strength. He has no weaknesses, and He is perfect. And this is being communicated to us, the believing reader, to encourage us and strengthen us when we struggle. Life is hard. All of the physical, emotional, financial, spiritual, vocational, intellectual, relational struggles are no match for God, Who is the very source of power. He strengthens us when we need it, not too much and not too little, not too early and not too late. He is perfect in His delivery.
He revives us when we are at our weakest and lowest. When we feel as though we can’t take another step, or in some cases another breath, He is there to strengthen us to accomplish what we need to accomplish. And we can rest in that. We are not doing everything on our own strength and power, because if we really thought about it, we aren’t as powerful as sometimes we think we are. He is the source; we are merely vessels. He is infinite; we are finite, we have limits.
The next time you feel as though you just can’t move another inch, focus in on God, and ask Him to renew your strength. Ask for His peace, wisdom, and guidance. “Have you not known?” He is loving and merciful. He sees us and loves us. He protects and provides for us. Even if the surrounding circumstances cause us to doubt, let us trust His steadfast love in ALL things.
Gotta go fill up my cup…..
Coffee with Candee 