Things that do not Change # 1 - The Word of God

Things seem a little crazy right now don’t they!  I want you to know that in times that are strange and uncertain it can be difficult to obey the commands of Scripture to avoid worry and anxiety.  Our natural impulse is to want to protect our status quo and keep things “normal.”  And when normal gets upset one of the first human responses is anxiety about the future.  So, how is it that the Bible can ask of us that we avoid anxiety?  How can we practically move from anxiety to peace?  

Obviously there are some simple answers like prayer and reading the Bible, but I think that even though we know these are good things to do we do not know how or why they are helping us.  I want to offer a bit of something I have learned:  In order to avoid worry we have to replace it with something else.  Worry is essentially focus on the unknown and that which can’t be known.  Anxiety is then stressing about the unknown and that which cannot be known.  We can help ourselves by replacing these things with that which we do know.  And so I thought I would share a brief devotional about things that we know!

I would call your attention to Isaiah 40. 

The thing that does not change is the Word of God.  God’s Word does not change.  Notice first verse 8 “The word of our God stands forever.”  Think about that.  In changing times we can be anchored to the Word of God!  Stop for a moment and meditate on that phrase.  Say it to yourself over and over again.  The Word of our God stands forever.  The Word of our God stands forever.  The Word of our God stands forever. 

Now look at the surrounding narrative.  The first few verses are a call to peace.  This call comes after a plot to overthrown all of Judah by the nation of Assyria.  Hezekiah seeks God’s help and is rewarded with a victory in chapter 37.  After that great moment he becomes mortally ill.  He prays and seeks God and he is healed.  Then in chapter 39 Hezekiah boasts of all the wealth he has accumulated and the prophet tells him it will all be taken to Babylon.  Talk about times of uncertainty and turmoil!  And in chapter 40 God speaks.  And God talks about His own greatness.  And in verse 3 we see a voice call out about preparing for God (think John the Baptist and the fulfillment of this).  In verse 6 that voice tells the prophet to call out and then proceeds to tell the prophet what to say. 

The prophet is to speak that all flesh is grass and will wither and fade.  In other words, if we are placing our hope and certainty with people, we are misplaced.  ALL FLESH IS GRASS.  People are impermanent.  No one likes to think about this, but we are impermanent.  We are weak and frail.  We are but a vapor and a mist.  We are sheep.  People are not where we put our hope. And yet so often we place our hope on people.  Our perspective needs to be tempered by the Word of God which says that flesh is perishable, the Word of God is not.  This thought continues – in the same chapter in verse 23-24 he reminds us that human rulers and powers are meaningless and God blows on them and they are carried away.  God however, and His Word, are not like humans.  God and His Word are stable.  God’s Word stands forever.  God’s Word stands forever.  And so in crazy times we are called to not look at the world around us and try to make sense of it in order to find peace.   We are told to look up.  Literally.  Notice verse 26 – “Lift up your eyes on high and see who has created these stars.”  And we find our comfort in the last 5 verses of the same chapter.  We must wait on the Lord whose Word never fails.  The Word of our God stands forever.  And God’s Word (in the same chapter even) tells us that we who wait on God will gain new strength! 

So in our tendency toward anxiety may we all remember that we can have peace when we look to those things that do not change.  Spend time studying the Word of God.  Spend time placing your faith and hope in the things that will never change.  And in them find certainty and peace.  The Word of our God stands forever.