LEARNING DAILY

Isaiah 41:10, “Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you; yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.”

The context of Isaiah 41 is that God is going to help and comfort those in Israel who faithfully follow Him and do not worship and trust in worthless idols. The people of Israel have suffered due to warfare and have begun to look for help from people around them; they have forgotten that “… that the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, neither faints nor is weary. His understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the weak; and to those who have no might He increases strength” (Isaiah 40: 28-29). The prophet Isaiah reminds the people that God has chosen them to be His people and nothing or no one can successfully come against them.

The weekend message was about God always being with us. Pastor Newton reminded us that God has always been God and will always be God. He knows all about each one of us, nothing is hidden from Him; “He is not put off from us by who we are, what we have done. He loves us as we are”.  “He knows the plans He has for us, plans of peace and not evil, to give us a future and hope’”. Pastor Newton went on to say, “because He knows your future, He has been working out the details of your life. He guides us, knowing where we are going even when we don’t. He only wants us to take His hand and trust Him to guide us. He gives us what we ‘need’ when we don’t know what we ‘need'."

How does God do this? The Lord Jesus promised when He went to the Father, He would not leave His disciples alone, to struggle in their walk with Him. His promise would be to send to them the Holy Spirit, to send another Helper to guide, strengthen, comfort them in their walk with Him. John 14:16-17 tells us, “And I will ask the father, and He will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him. You know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you” (from the Listener Guide). When one accepts Jesus Christ as their Savior, the Holy Spirit, this Helper is given to help guide the Believer in truth and strengthen him/her in their walk as they walk the narrow way into eternity in God’s kingdom.

Believers are also the chosen people of God. Therefore “Believers can claim the promises of these verses for themselves. Believers must not fear humans, because God is with us (1) to impart the grace and strength needed to face all circumstances of life; (2) to help us through times of crisis as our source of peace; and (3) to sustain us and to be our advocate” (Life in the Spirit Study Bible).

As we enter into this time of celebration of the Lord Jesus’ human birth (remember “He has always been God and will always be God”, Pastor Newton), may we always remember that He is always with us in every situation we face with His hand stretched toward us to be with us through the trials and joys we face on the journey on the narrow way.