“Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.”
The Lord is good to His people. In all generations, He has gone to great lengths to communicate to humanity that He desires to draw us near to Him.
He invites us to trust in Him.
He encourages us to walk with Him.
He pleads with us to follow Him.
He reminds us of His presence.
The Lord is with His people. Frequently throughout our lives, we struggle with feelings of loneliness and isolation. We think we are on our own and we allow ourselves to believe the misguided notion that everything comes down to our own wisdom and abilities. That mindset produces fear and discouragement. It leads to dismay. It tricks our hearts into forgetting the presence of God.
Self-reliance sounds like a tempting concept and many people aim to make it a major facet of their lives as well as one of their primary coping strategies. But self-reliance isn't God's ultimate desire for us. He wants us to rely on Him. He wants us to receive and utilize His power. He tells us that He can and will strengthen us if our trust is in Him.
He also reminds us that He desires to help us. Often, we think of God as our last resort when we can't figure things out on our own. But throughout His Word He encourages us to come to Him as our first resort. We need His help, and life is better once we start admitting just how much we need Him.
Isaiah 41:10 concludes with God's promise to His people that He will uphold them with His righteous right hand. This promise was initially spoken to the people of ancient Israel, but is this promise any less true for us today? And if God has promised to stay present with, help, and uphold those who trust in Him, do we have any real reason to fear?
This post is taken from John Stange’s book, “Overcoming Anxiety - 12 powerful truths from Scripture for defeating worry and fear.”
