9-23-2016

Good Morning All!!

        Isaiah 43:2:  “When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you.”

     I remember when I was in high school; something called “trust walks” were popular community building events at gatherings.  The premise was a small group of people, usually around 12, had to walk from point “A” to point “B”; they had to all walk together.  During the exercise about half would wear blindfolds and thus be “blind” while the other half couldn’t say anything and thus were “mute”.  So, essentially, the “mute” members had to lead the blind members along.  Then as you went, the mute members would slowly lose their sight until only one person had sight but no way to speak.  The group had to trust the last “mute” to lead them to safety.

    Sometimes this would lead to funny twists and failures; one time about 7 people fell down a flight of stairs; that wasn’t so funny.  Yet the idea was to build trust in those around you to keep you safe.  How many people would you trust with the most personal and intimate details of your life; are there any?  It can be difficult to trust especially if your trust has already been broken.  If a friend betrayed a story, or a business associate betrayed a deal, or if a spouse damaged the marriage; it can be difficult to trust.

     Yet this trust is exactly what God offers to us.  We can trust God to keep his promises.  The imagery of our verse can be very powerful if have ever experienced a flood or a fire.  Trying to wade through flood waters is a very scary event.  You are not sure of the footing or of what is going to get swept into you by the flowing floodwaters.  You are usually cold and usually very bewildered.  A fire can be almost the same.  The smoke makes seeing ahead difficult and hard to breathe.  The heat from the fire can be very scary and the noise of a fire can be intimidating. 

    Both of these are very similar to some of our life events.  Going to the hospital for the first time can be scary and vey foreign to us.  Moving to an assisted living center can cause panic.  When we change jobs or schools, it can be scary. If we stop and think; many of our life events can cause us anxiety.  Yet we know that we never have to go it alone.  No matter how scary the events, God will see us through.  Maybe we see our children or parents or in-laws are more of a challenge that we thought they would be.   Relationships can be hard to deal with.  They may be the most difficult events we deal with.  This is usually true because we have so much emotional capital invested; we have a lot of our own “blood, sweat and tears” on the line that we battle constantly. 

     So as we deal with these, remember that we do not travel alone.  God is there to lead us through to safety.  He knows our needs and knows our fears and is there to comfort us when we need it.  Sometimes, the first step is the hardest and that is to let go of our plans and to trust in God’s plans.  Trust in God, he will deliver you.

Dear Father in heaven, you lead us safely through the floods and fires of life.  Father, as we struggle with relationships in our families; lead us to see that you are truly our only source of hope and salvation. Strengthen our trust in your will.  In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret