If you live in the Northeast Georgia area, I'll be signing copies of Home to Currahee at the Carpenter's Shop in Athens this Friday, May 23, from 4-6. Would love to see you there.
In my daily Bible reading, I come across these words in
Isaiah 63:
“In all their distress he too
was distressed,
and the angel of his presence saved them.
In his love and mercy he redeemed them;
he lifted them up and carried them
all the days of old.”
and the angel of his presence saved them.
In his love and mercy he redeemed them;
he lifted them up and carried them
all the days of old.”
A date, 5-22-00, is written beside these
verses.
Even when I get another Bible, I go through
the old one and transfer dates like this to the new one, so that I don’t ever
forget how God moved in a particular situation.
In this instance, that May date was just
three days after I was diagnosed with cancer. At the time, I had questions like,
“Has the cancer already spread like a wildfire?” and “Who would take care of my
children?” They were only seven and eight. I felt a bit stranded in my
suffering.
However, the message God sent through the
prophet Isaiah, was that God felt my pain and was carrying me.
“In all their troubles,
he was troubled, too.
He didn’t send someone else to help them.
He did it himself, in person.
Out of his own love and pity
he redeemed them.
He rescued them and carried them along
for a long, long time.”
he was troubled, too.
He didn’t send someone else to help them.
He did it himself, in person.
Out of his own love and pity
he redeemed them.
He rescued them and carried them along
for a long, long time.”
We often speak of God as a personal God,
because we can know Him, have a relationship with Him. He is also personal to
us, in that when we are suffering, He is with us. Really with us. An element of
the meaning of “redeemed” in these verses has in the original Hebrew to do
with acting as a “kinsman, do the part of next of kin, act as kinsman-redeemer.” He doesn’t send someone else, but as our “next of kin” and by the
presence of his Spirit, He comes alongside to comfort, rescue, and carry us.
God has carried me now a long, long time.
Fourteen years after I penned that date in my Bible, I read these verses in Isaiah while dealing with another heartache. One that caused me to cry out to
God day after day, and left me feeling helpless. But, I’m reminded I have every
reason to believe God’s dealings will follow the same path as before. He feels
my pain. He comes in person. Out of mercy, he redeems and rescues. He’s
willing to go the distance. As my next of kin, He won’t leave me stranded
halfway out in the lake without a paddle to get home.
If you find yourself in a similar
situation, in the middle of a vast body of water, hurting, scared, and
seemingly alone, remember Isaiah’s words and take comfort. He’s your next of
kin, too, and he won’t leave you stranded.