March 19, 2024

Scripture: Isaiah 30:19-21 – “19 People of Zion, who live in Jerusalem, you will weep no more. How gracious he will be when you cry for help! As soon as he hears, he will answer you. 20 Although the Lord gives you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, your teachers will be hidden no more; with your own eyes you will see them. 21 Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, “This is the way; walk in it.”

What it means

I thought this was really cool – yet another example in scripture of God actually bending over to listen to our cries for help…and not just listening, but being gracious to us.  The next verse says that He will answer us, and provide us with the answers that we need for our particular dilemma.  We can turn either to the left or the right, doesn’t matter, and He will speak to us, telling us the way that we need to walk.  “This is the way; walk in it.”  He will listen to us, He will answer us, and He will provide the roadmap that we need to follow – can’t ask for much more than that!

What it means to me

Do you ever struggle with praying to God and hearing…nothing? Yeah, me too.  I will pour my heart out about something, thoroughly satisfied that I must have convinced God with my pleas, but then I hear crickets.  When we ask God for something, we will generally get 1 of 3 responses: 1.) Yes, 2.) No, or 3.) Wait a while…and #3 seems to pop up more than I would care for it to.  Does that somehow mean that God doesn’t hear our prayer? No.  Does it mean that we are praying incorrectly somehow, with improper motives? Well, maybe…but not necessarily.  You know what God wants most of all from us when we pray? For us to trust Him, even when we don’t want to be patient…even when there doesn’t seem to be a way.  Just trust Him.  Is it easy? No…absolutely not.  But we need to trust Him.  He always works it out, even if it isn’t necessarily what we would have chosen.  You see, He’s God – and He know better than we do what we really need.  So keep crying out to Him – He always loves to hear from His kids.

Love you guys, talk to you on Thursday!

In Christ,

Brian