Experiencing God's Presence #191

Experiencing God's Presence #191

Don’t be afraid, for I am with you. Don’t be discouraged, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you. I will hold you up with my victorious right hand.

Isaiah 41:10

As our relationship with God deepens, we hear His voice more and more clearly. That’s an amazing privilege, but it’s also a weighty responsibility. Why? Because when we believe we’ve heard direction from Him, we have to choose whether to follow it or not, even when it seems risky or potentially embarrassing. Once we hear, we can’t remain neutral. And when we follow in faith, faith gets tested. Delays and adverse circumstances seem to mock our beliefs and our resolve. The tests can be fierce.

God is with us in these tests. When He has spoken, we need encouragement to believe. In adversity and delays, we will face doubts, obstacles, wise-sounding but uninformed counsel, temptations to give up, and much discouragement. That’s when He tells us, “Don’t be afraid . . . don’t be discouraged . . . I will strengthen you.” God promises victory to those who endure, so He gives us enough strength—usually just enough so faith is still required—to keep us going. He wants us to succeed and not give up.

In the walk of faith, we can’t afford to doubt, worry, fear, or complain—the very symptoms that kept a generation of Israelites out of their Promised Land. All of these attitudes severely undermine God’s work on our behalf, not because He can’t do whatever He wants but because He has chosen to relate to us on the basis of our faith. Negative attitudes and words undermine faith. They devalue the very currency we have to use in God’s Kingdom. Wherever God’s voice and your faith are leading you, do not be afraid or dismayed.

Lord, if I’ve misheard You, I’ll trust You to correct me. But until You do, I’m hanging on in faith. I reject doubt, fear, worry, and complaining. I won’t give up.