No sooner asked...

Well I know I don't normally write so much in one day, but I had to post this too. The Lord is soooo good to me!

I have been wrestling with some hurt feelings lately. Yes, even I get my feelings hurt by people who are mean to me, whether it is to my face or behind my back. Well, this morning when I woke up I had some anxiety about this. So I began to really pray and seek the Lord. I read a chapter in my daily Bible reading from Isaiah 49, but nothing really spoke to me. I kept praying about it and finally emailed a few friends asking them to please pray for me, that the Lord would give me wisdom in this situation. I want to do His will and not react to being hurt in my flesh and try to defend myself. I was getting ready to sign out of Facebook when I noticed my friend Maggie had posted a verse on her profile page,

"When anxiety was great within me, Your consolation brought joy to my soul." Psalm 94:19

Wow that was perfect for me, I love it when the Lord randomly uses my friends to bless me and speak to me!

After I signed out, I really felt that the Lord wanted me to continue reading in Isaiah, so I sat back down and just began to read where I left off, starting with Isaiah 50. Hello! Right away the Lord began to speak to me. Reminding me that He is my defense and He will take care of everything for me. I believe that there are times when, as it states in Matthew 18 we are to go to people and talk to them when they have wronged us, and I also believe that sometimes the Lord wants to be our defense, and that He wants us to sit back and watch what He will do.

I want to share all of these verses with you, in case some of you ever feel that you are in the same place I was in this morning...struggling maybe with being hurt, or having someone wrongly say things about you. Not knowing if you should go to them or sit back and let the Lord work. These are the verses that the Lord gave to me for my situation specifically, it was as though these verses from my reading this morning jumped right off the page at me.

First I read:

"The Lord GOD has opened My ear; and I was not rebellious, nor did I turn away. I gave My back to those who struck Me, and My cheeks to those who plucked out the beard; I did not hide My face from shame and spitting. For the Lord GOD will help Me; therefore I will not be disgraced; therefore I have set My face like a flint, and I know that I will not be ashamed. He is near who justifies Me; who will contend with Me? Let us stand together. Who is My adversary? Let him come near Me. Surely the Lord GOD will help Me; who is he who will condemn Me? Indeed they will all grow old like a garment; the moth will eat them up. Who among you fears the LORD? Who obeys the voice of His Servant? Who walks in darkness and has no light? Let him trust in the name of the LORD and rely upon his God."

Isaiah 50:5-10

I kept reading and then the Lord spoke to me through these verses in Isaiah 51:

“Listen to Me, you who know righteousness, you people in whose heart is My law: Do not fear the reproach of men, nor be afraid of their insults. For the moth will eat them up like a garment, and the worm will eat them like wool; but My righteousness will be forever, and My salvation from generation to generation ... I, even I, am He who comforts you. Who are you that you should be afraid of a man who will die, and of the son of a man who will be made like grass? And you forget the LORD your Maker, who stretched out the heavens and laid the foundations of the earth; you have feared continually every day because of the fury of the oppressor, when he has prepared to destroy. And where is the fury of the oppressor? The captive exile hastens, that he may be loosed, that he should not die in the pit, and that his bread should not fail. But I am the LORD your God, who divided the sea whose waves roared—The LORD of hosts is His name. And I have put My words in your mouth; I have covered you with the shadow of My hand, that I may plant the heavens, lay the foundations of the earth, and say to Zion, ‘You are My people’... Thus says your Lord, the LORD and your God, who pleads the cause of His people: “ See, I have taken out of your hand the cup of trembling, the dregs of the cup of My fury; you shall no longer drink it. But I will put it into the hand of those who afflict you, who have said to you, ‘ Lie down, that we may walk over you.’ And you have laid your body like the ground, and as the street, for those who walk over.” Isaiah 51:7-8, 12-16, 22-23

And finally ending in Isaiah 52. As awesome as the Lord is, He ended what He had to say to me with victory and peace and praise!

"How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who proclaims peace, who brings glad tidings of good things, who proclaims salvation, who says to Zion, “ Your God reigns!” Your watchmen shall lift up their voices, with their voices they shall sing together; for they shall see eye to eye when the LORD brings back Zion. Break forth into joy, sing together, you waste places of Jerusalem! For the LORD has comforted His people, He has redeemed Jerusalem. The LORD has made bare His holy arm in the eyes of all the nations; and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God. Depart! Depart! Go out from there, touch no unclean thing; go out from the midst of her, be clean, you who bear the vessels of the LORD. For you shall not go out with haste, nor go by flight; for the LORD will go before you, and the God of Israel will be your rear guard." Isaiah 52:7-12

No sooner had I asked my friends to pray for me for wisdom and asked the Lord to give me wisdom, than He lead me back to His word and to those verses. He is so good and so faithful. I didn't go searching through the Bible to find those verses, they were there in my daily reading, they were there waiting for me to read this morning, set up before hand by the Lord! The Bible is so real and so alive, the Lord is so good and so faithful, I can't make this stuff up! He is truly amazing and is always wanting to be there for us, to meet us where we are if we will just be willing to ask and seek Him and wait for Him to show us what He has planned for us!

Amen? Amen!

grace and peace,

Rachel

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