Friday, May 30, 2008

Whom do you fear - Isaiah 8:13,14

“The Lord Almighty is the one you are to regard as holy, he is the one you are to fear, he is the one you are to dread, and he will be a sanctuary;…”
                                                -Isaiah 8:13,14

God had shown himself to his people so many times. Yet so many times they fell away. And so instead of being a place of refuge and a source of peace for His people God became a source of hardship. The Israelites had rejected God so many times because they feared everything except for Him. They were worried about the world and its conspiracies. They dreaded what others might do to them. But God through Isaiah reminded them that He was the one to be revered, respected and feared. And if they were to do that than He would become a sanctuary to them. He would be a source of peace and a place of rest.

How many times has the Lord shown himself to me? Countless times he has come to my rescue. When I felt alone and desperate He was right there to pick me up. When I had no one to talk to He was there ready to listen. When we were poor and had nowhere to live. When our family was split up He was above watching over us all. In ministry He has come through every single weekend. Every service He came through. Yet somehow I still find myself doubting. I find myself fretting over logistics or trying to do things on my own. I feel like a failure if “I” can’t do it. I feel unqualified. Yet I know that God can do all things and through Him I can do all things also. But sometimes I get into a routine that I just can’t break. My actions become guided by what others might think or expect. I fret about failure because I am afraid of what my leaders will say. But the Bible is so clear that He will be my sanctuary if I only fear and respect Him more than anything or anyone else. When it all boils down to it He is the only one that I need to impress. Sure, he has appointed people over me to oversee my development and to check my heart. But if my motivation is to please the Lord and if I know that if I am humble enough to acknowledge and realize that I can’t do anything on my own then those people will be pleased. The Lord will bless the ministry.

The one thing that the Israelites repeatedly did was to forget what God had done in the past. If they did this constantly than they would not have fallen away. But how often do we forget what God had done not only for us in our own lives but even through what we know in His word. God defeated armies! Think about it. He had and still has the power to defeat any obstacle. If He had wanted to, He could have used one man to defeat the whole Assyrian army. How easy is it for Him to find a worship leader for Ignite services?

I need to do what the Israelites did not. I need to learn form their mistakes. I need to sit and remember what God has done and what he is capable of doing. And I also need to remember that He is my father and He has His heart set on our best.

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