For Every Fear a Promise

IS GOD LISTENING?

You have heard, and perhaps you have made the remark, “I don’t think my prayers are getting past the ceiling.” That is usually a candid expression of one’s feeling that God has not listened or that He is ignoring one’s prayers. In the process of rationalization, you may have felt unworthy of the answer, or perhaps there is some unconfessed sin that comes to your mind. In any event, the answers are just not evident to you. It is easy to become discouraged when things are not opening up for you. You are sincere in your asking, but there is no noticeable movement from heaven, and you wonder whether God is still listening to you.

If you ever dated a person and that person seemed to have “lost that lovin’ feeling,” you know what it feels like to feel spurned and rejected. You wonder what is wrong with you or you wonder what you did or said, and you feel heartbroken. That is the way some Christians feel when God’s answers are hard to find. If you had that kind of dating experience, you will recall that the only thing that could fix it was the reaffirmation of the love of the one by whom you felt rejected. When we feel abandoned by God, that is exactly what He does for us in His Word. He comes to us through the constraining love of Christ and draws us near.

God’s appearance to Isaac went like this, “That night the Lord appeared to him and said, “I am the God of your father Abraham. Do not be afraid, for I am with you; I will bless you and will increase the number of your descendants for the sake of my servant Abraham” (Gen. 26:24 NIV). You’ll notice that God appeared to Isaac and reaffirmed His love and presence to him as He had to his father Abraham. He said to him, “Do not be afraid, for I am with you . . . .” There is nothing quite so powerful as the renewal of promises of love and blessing from our loving heavenly Father. The devil would like for you to think that God has abandoned you and that you are not important to Him. The greatest loneliness in the world is the loneliness prompted when one feels God has turned His back and forgotten His child. Praise God, He never forgets, and He never abandons those He loves. Listen to His Word, “Give thanks to God—he is good and his love never quits”(1 Chron. 16:34 The Message). “Hear this, The Lord appeared to us in the past, saying: ‘I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with loving-kindness’” (Jere. 31:3 NIV). So, when you wonder if God is listening, and cares for you, remember God is listening!

Fear Not - “That night the Lord appeared to him and said, ‘I am the God of your father Abraham. Do not be afraid’” (Gen. 26:24 NIV).

Promise - “For I am with you; I will bless you and will increase the number of your descendants for the sake of my servant Abraham” (Gen. 26:24 NIV).

TURNING YOUR LIFE AROUND

Have you ever wished that you could start all over again? You may have said, “I wish I could just have a new beginning,” or “I want to have a fresh start.” That is usually because we have made some mistakes, fallen short of the best God had for us, or we are disappointed in ourselves. We tend to conduct a mental personal performance review, find fault with much of what we see, resent the failures we detect, and then we subject ourselves to a whole lot of mental flagellation. The beating some of us take is out of line with the will and plan of God for our lives.

In the US Army, I was taught how to do a crisp and sharp about face. We would march in one direction and the Drill Instructor would yell the command, “Halt.” Then, the next command would be “About face.” That meant to stop moving in one direction and turn 180 degrees and march in the opposite direction.

In the spiritual life that is called repentance. It is easy, even natural to walk in ways that are not pleasing to God. When that happens, we find ourselves feeling guilty, restless, convicted. In those times Satan is quick to appear on the scene to remind us of how unworthy we are and of how useless we are to God and His work in the world. There are even human participants in the process who judgmentally comment, “God will just put you on the shelf and never use you again.” Or, “Do you think God would use your life after what you have done?” I have often commented that I believe people put people on the shelf, and God takes people off of the shelf. It is God’s expressed plan to save us from our errors and make us useful to Him.

In 1 Samuel 12, “Samuel said to them, ‘Don’t be fearful. It’s true that you have done something very wrong. All the same, don’t turn your back on God. Worship and serve him heart and soul’” (1 Sam. 12:20 The Message)! Notice there is a call to repentance, an about face, turn away from the sin. STOP doing what is wrong. START doing what is right. The prophet teaches the people not to turn their backs on God. He has not turned His back on them. They are still His people. Samuel promises in vs. 23 to continue to pray for them as they make their about face - turn their lives around. If that is your need, remember:

Fear Not - “Don’t be fearful. It’s true that you have done something very wrong. All the same, don’t turn your back on God. Worship and serve him heart and soul” (1 Sam. 12:20 The Message)!

Promise - “God, simply because of who he is, is not going to walk off and leave his people. God took delight in making you into his very own people” (1 Sam. 12:22 The Message).