Isaiah 31:4-5 For thus says the LORD to me, “As the lion or the young lion growls over his prey, against which a band of shepherds is called out, and he will not be terrified at their voice nor disturbed at their noise, so will the LORD of hosts come down and wage war on Mount Zion and on its hill.” Like flying birds so the LORD of Hosts will protect Jerusalem. He will protect and deliver it, He will pass over and rescue it.
God is not terrified by the voice of man, even a band or army trained in war does not move Him. The noise they make will not move or deter Him from His purpose, nor will their weapons cause Him to fear and abandon those He protects. They will flee at His voice, at the thundering peal of the command of God breaking through but He will not flee at the sight or sound of them.
God will not abandon His beloved. He will fiercely protect and deliver those who are His!
This is the God in Whom I hope. The Lord of Hosts upon Whom I set my eyes and heart. He is my help, my refuge, my strength, my stability, and the One Who covers me.
And if you are His through Christ, then He is all those things to you as well.
There is nothing that we cannot entrust to Him, no need that He is unaware of and unable to provide. He is protector, wisdom, and stability. He is life, light, and truth. He is grace, peace, and joy. He is our victor and our victory.
We do not have to put our trust in anyone or anything else – in Christ alone we place our trust.
Again, as I said in the previous post, this does not mean that God won’t use other people to come through for us, to fight alongside us, and to bring us His provision or wisdom. He will. We are a Body and we all have things to contribute to one another. Just read through the Book of Acts and you’ll see one example after another of the Body of Christ providing for one another.
The point is, that our hope and trust is in God and we allow Him to provide what we need in the way that He deems best.
Let me give you an example.
Several years ago I was home, sick, and didn’t have the energy to go out and get groceries. I had a list and I had prayed but I hadn’t talked to anyone about it.
A friend called to tell me she was coming over to play some games with me (I’d been sick for a couple of weeks at that point, I think). She did not tell me she was going to stop at the grocery store for me. She just did it.
At the store, she picked up some things she thought I would like, again, she had no idea I had a list, no idea I had not been out to get groceries. She just did it, following the lead of the Holy Spirit without even knowing that’s what she was doing.
When she got to my house, she showed me what she got. It was everything on my list…INCLUDING my preferred brands.
She didn’t know. I didn’t tell her. But God knew and He used her to meet that need.
How about one other example?
I was suicidal and had planned to end my life on a certain date.
The afternoon before the date I had picked, a friend called me out of the blue and said she was coming over to spend the night and hang out with me. Her call did not change my plans, but gave me a sense of relief since she was the one I was hoping to have take my cat. To me, it simplified things. (I was in a dark place, obviously)
An hour or less after she called, another friend called and said that she had to go to work out of town and asked if she could spend the night at my place since it would save her over an hour of travel time. I said, “Yes.”
This was not in my plans and made me wonder what was going on.
The two had not talked about it and neither knew that the other was coming until I told them.
Another God-orchestrated event.
While I was waiting for them to show up, I was cooking dinner and scrolling the internet.
I wasn’t looking for anything really, just scrolling.
As I did, I landed on the Oregon Humane Society’s website and saw that there were puppies just becoming available the next day. Suddenly I was eye to eye with the photo of this puppy that I could not tear myself away from. I knew that no matter what else the next day would bring, I had to see this puppy.
My plans had not changed. I had no intention at all of adopting her because that would have been irresponsible. But I had to meet her in person. I couldn’t explain it.
I let both of my friends know that I had to go to the Humane Society the next morning and that I wanted to be there as early in the day as possible.
The friend who was planning to hang out with me, was a little disappointed because she had hoped to go shopping. She let me know that’s what she had wanted to do, but I told her I really had to do this and then we could go shopping.
The next morning, one of my friends left for work as planned and the other got up and prepared to go to the Humane Society with me. Unfortunately, my cat got pink eye, so I had to take her to the vet before we could go. But we got her all taken care of and off we went.
It ended up being a long wait, as the puppies were shown all at once to each person or family that came to see them. And a lot happened during that time. I talked to my friend. We laughed at the shenanigans of kittens playing. I looked at puppy gear and thought of all the things I would need if I did get a puppy. And I prayed…a lot.
After a couple of hours of pacing, watching kittens, and praying. I told God, “If I adopt a puppy, ending my life has to come off the table completely, and I don’t know if I can do that on my own. I need Your help.”
And I heard Him say, “It’s about time.”
Now, I’ll be totally honest and say that I thought He was talking about Thyme – which was the name of one of the puppies (they were all named after herbs). So, I thought what He was telling me was that I was going to adopt a puppy and that it would be the male, Thyme, not the little girl Marjoram that I was there to see.
This could be a whole different post about hearing God but not “hearing” Him.
But, back to the story. What He was saying was that it was about time I entrusted this part of my healing process to Him instead of leaning on myself and my own very limited energy and understanding.
So, ultimately, I ended up adopting Marjoram (renamed her Riley) and I made a commitment to the Lord that I would “choose life” no matter what going forward, with His help.
In the case of this story, not only did God send two friends as sources of encouragement and protection; but He used the timing of the photos on the website; the unexpected delay at the Humane Society; the gentleman showing the puppies; and Riley herself to intervene, save my life, and bring about a transformative breakthrough in my thinking and believing.
The enemy was coming in like a flood. He was throwing all kinds of things at me, and I was crumbling. But I still prayed, even with the plans I had. I still talked to God. I still asked Him to intervene. But I was leaning on my own wisdom, strength, and understanding; and I was drowning in the process.
I re-learned the lesson that I’m explaining here –
First, we must put our trust in God alone.
Second, with our trust in Him, we must learn to allow Him to intervene on our behalf however He chooses, and quite often that will be through other people. We aren’t to lean on them but to be grateful for them and what God is doing through them.
Third, He loves it when we rely on Him and recognize our need for Him. Not in an egomaniacal way, but in the way a loving parent delights in their child seeking out their assistance or wisdom.
He wants to protect us and provide for us, but there is a relational aspect to it. He wants us to believe that He not only has our best interest at heart, but that He has everything that we could ever possibly need, and it is all ours, if we would just ask in faith believing. And we get to that place by knowing Him.
He alone is worthy of our complete trust and reliance.
