Not if…but when…

One of my devotions this week started with a passage from Isaiah that always gives me great comfort…

When you go through deep waters….I will be with you.

When you go through rivers of difficulty….you will not drown.

When you walk through the fire of oppression…you will not be burned up…the flames will not consume you.   Isaiah 43:2

But I have to admit…I want to read it like this…

You won’t go through deep waters because I am with you….you won’t have to traverse rivers of difficulty or feel the heat of oppression …

And THAT is NOT at ALL what this says…

It says…

 

I will go through deep waters…

I will be in rivers of difficulty…

I will feel the flames of oppressions licking at my face…

I will feel like I may be going down for the last time….like the circumstances of life may just be the death of me.

And it is in the midst of it – the heat…the flood…the panic that sets in when hope is all but gone…

He says…

I am with you…

You will not drown…

You will not be overcome…

This will not consume you…

Why?

Because…

I AM …

the LORD ….

your God…

the Holy One of Israel…

Your Savior   Isaiah 43:3

He will not fail you.

Hold fast to Him…in the waves and the fire…in the flood…

WHEN you feel these….

BELIEVE what He has said 

HE IS FAITHFUL <3