Leaning On the Everlasting Arms

November 1 (Isaiah 46:4)

And even to your old age I am he; and even to hoar hairs will I carry you: I have made, and I will bear; even I will carry, and will deliver you.  (KJV)

A glass of your favorite cold beverage on a summer day.  A mug of hot chocolate on a winter morning.  A steaming shower or bath after working your muscles to the point they ache.  Collapsing into your own bed after a long, exhausting trip.  There are just certain things that in restoring the body restore the soul as well.

When I read this verse recently, it had a similar effect.  Sometimes I just need to be reminded that God has me.  He was with me when I was a child, He is with me in middle age, and He will be there when I am old.  He made me, and because of that He will carry me.

Man, oh man, do I need to hear that.  If you are living in, oh, I don’t know, say this very year, then you are by default stressed and exhausted.  It comes with the territory of modern life.  What a gift to step back, just for one brief moment, and realize that the hubbub of daily existence can go take a long walk off a short pier.  God has your back, and that is the only thing that matters.

Father, thank You.  Thank You for Your loving arms that support me, embrace me, comfort me, guide me, protect me, and defend me.  I love just being in the warmth of Your embrace.  I love You.  Amen.

Copyright © 2015 by Steven R. Perkins

February 1 (2 Corinthians 1:3-4)

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.  (ESV)

You and I have a responsibility, a duty, to let God comfort us.  For many of us, that sounds weak.  “I’ll take care of myself, thank you very much.”  We see it as a sign of weakness if we do not pull ourselves up by our own bootstraps.  Yet the fact is, we have an obligation to let God comfort us, and it is not an obligation to ourselves.

As Paul reminds us, when we are comforted by God, we can then comfort others who are suffering any kind of affliction.  Why?  It is because we can speak from experience.  Which would you rather hear?  Someone who can quote a lot of platitudes or theory they have gained from a book, or someone who has personal experience of God’s love and mercy?

The next time you think you should not bother God with your problems, consider this.  What do you need to experience from Him that He wants you to share with someone else?  If you block Him out, not only do you miss your own comfort, you lose an opportunity to experience something first hand from God that you could share with someone else.

Father, I need Your comfort and mercy today.  There is so much surrounding me, pulling at me, weighing me down.  Strengthen and guide me, Lord, not just to handle the things in front of me, but so that I may be able to share Your love and grace with someone else who needs.  In the name of Jesus, my loving Savior, amen.

Copyright © 2015 by Steven R. Perkins