He Will Not Forsake Us
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Isaiah 42:14-16 NASB
14. "I have kept silent for a long time, I have kept still and restrained Myself. [Now] like a woman in labor I will groan, I will both gasp and pant. 15. "I will lay waste the mountains and hills, And wither all their vegetation; I will make the rivers into coastlands, And dry up the ponds. 16. "And I will lead the blind by a way they do not know, In paths they do not know I will guide them. I will make darkness into light before them And rugged places into plains. These are the things I will do, And I will not leave them undone."
In this chapter of Isaiah the quotation marks indicate a quote from God. Perhaps because of the current journey I am on in my life, I translate these words as being directly applicable to me. God is literally leading me down a path I cannot imagine going. I sense with great anticipation the wonder and joy what awaits me down the road, I just can’t envision it in any human terms in my mind. As my husband searches for a job, he also prays and waits on God to show him opportunities he might never had seen were he still employed.
Isaiah reveals that God just couldn’t wait any longer – like a woman in labor. When it’s time for that baby to be born, it’s going to be born! When it is time for God to act, He can’t hold himself back either! These verses paint of picture of tremendous upheaval and a completely different landscape when God is finished doing His work. Isn’t that how our lives are once we turn them over to God and his care? Don’t we traverse uncharted waters and travel blind down the path that is ahead of us?
Another translation of verse 16 ends with “I will not forsake them.” I like that version better, as it reminds us that even though we travel blind, even though we are about to experience new things, in new ways, and even though we don’t know this new landscape, God will not forsake us. He will be leading us every inch of the way. Believing this to be so, I have not worried about my husband’s job search – he’s doing everything he can do. I do find though, I have little panic attacks about odd things that are seemingly unrelated! I’m working hard to turn those over to God, too.
I call to mind such an odd picture when I think of God, the almighty, all-powerful, gasping and panting as in labor. That reveals to me how desperately he wants to be in our lives and how passionately he wants us to give our lives over to him. He longs for us to become who he made us to be. Once we begin to discover who we are, God is willing to flatten mountains, dry up rivers, and literally change the landscape for us to travel the path he planned for us eons ago.
My prayer today is that you trust in the God who will never forsake us. And that you close your eyes and take that first giant leap of faith into God’s loving arms.
Mary
