I probably should be sleeping. After all, it's amost midnight, the kids are BOTH asleep. I should be asleep. But after a long day and some discouraging times, I needed to be in the WORD. Getting some encouragement and reacharging, refocus and strength from where I need it most.
Needless to say, beyond my own little world, there is a lot going on in our country. I'm not going to get into politics. It is much too late for that. But as I was looking for another verse in the Bible, I came across one that made me abandon my previous search. (Don't you love it when God does that?)
Isaiah 40
"Comfort, comfort my people," says your God. "Speak tenderly to Jerusalem. Tell her that her sad days are gone and that her sins are pardoned. Yes, the Lord has punished her in full for all her sins." Listen! I hear the voice of someone shouting, "Make a highway for the Lord through the wilderness, Make a straight, smooth road through the desert for our God. Fill the valleys and level the hills. Straighten out the curves and smooth off the rough spots. Then the glory of the Lord will be revealed, and all people will see it together. The Lord has spoken!".......He will feed his flock like a shepherd. He will carry the lambs in his arms, holding them close to his heart, He will gently lead the mother sheep with their young. Who else has held the oceans in his hand? Who has measured off the heavens with his fingers? Who is able to advise the Spirit of the Lord? Who knows enough to be his teach or counselor? Has the Lord ever needed anyone's advice? Does he need instruction about what is good or what is best? No, for all the nations of the world are nothing in comparison with him. they are but a drop in the bucket, dust on the scales. He picks up the islands with his hands as though they had no weight at all. .....He judges the great people of the world and brings them all to nothing. ...O Israel, how can you say the Lord does not see your troubles? How can you say God refuses to hear your case? Have you never heard or understood? Don't you know that the Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of all the earch? He never grows faint or weary. No one can measure the depths of his understanding. He gives power to those who are tired and worn out; he offers strength to the weak. Even youths will become exhauseted, and young men will give up. But those who wait ont he Lord will find new strength. They will fly high on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not faint."
These verses encourage me on so many levels. I honestly must say that I am growing weary in my search for a job. I feel that my efforts are for nothing. But God promises to renew my strength. I don't know what that will look like, or when it will come, but I know that God keeps his promises. I claim those promises. And in our time of ecomonic crisis and the soon change of power in the White House, well...things might change here, but God is still in control. He is the one calling the shots. Nothing takes him by suprise. Nothing. I rest firmly that I am one of his sheep. One of God's chosen. I am protected.
