Steve Sikes Blog
Steve Sikes Blog
With our National election less than 10 days away, I have some questions for you:
1. Do you have some concerns about our next elected president?
2. Do you have some concerns about our nation’s moral, economic, and spiritual state? How about foreign relations?
3. Do you have some concerns about your own weariness and tiredness while living in today’s fast-paced and TMI (too much information) culture?
There are a great number of things I do not know. There are many wonders I have not yet seen. There are many sounds, songs and lessons I have not heard. But this one thing I know…
(Please allow me to let someone else finish this thought.) Several days ago I asked Isaiah the prophet if he would guest-write part of the front page of our bulletin and this blog and he said “YES!” Note: pay special attention to how he begins and ends his eleven-verse article. MAY GOD’S WORDS THROUGH ISAIAH COMFORT YOU!
“Do you not know? Have you not heard? Has it not been declared to you from the beginning?”
“Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth?”
“It is He who sits above the vault of the earth,
and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers,
who stretches out the heavens like a curtain
and spreads them out like a tent to dwell in.”
“He it is who reduces rulers to nothing,
who makes the judges of the earth meaningless. Scarcely have they been planted, scarcely have they been sown, scarcely has their stock taken root in the earth, but He merely blows on them, and they wither, and the storm carries them away like stubble.”
“To whom then will you liken Me that I should be his equal?” says the Holy One. “Lift up your eyes on high and see who has created these stars, the One who leads forth their host by number, He calls them all by name; because of the greatness of His might and the strength of His power not one of them is missing.”
“Why do you say, O Jacob, and assert, O Israel, ‘My way is hidden from the LORD, and the justice due me escapes the notice of my God’”?
“Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth does not become weary or tired. His understanding is inscrutable.”
“He gives strength to the weary, and to him who lacks might He increases power.”
“Though youths grow weary and tired,
And vigorous young men stumble badly, yet those who wait for the LORD will gain new strength; they will mount up with wings like eagles, they will run and not get tired, they will walk and not become weary.”
Isaiah 40:21-31
In the midst of today’s climate and my above stated concerns, I couldn’t help but take Isaiah’s words of declaration and wisdom personally:
1. Steve, do you not know? The only God, who is Creator and sovereign of all – is in control! HE IS ALL POWERFUL!
2. Steve, do you not know? Your God is The Ruler of all the nations! It is God who judges all the earth! HE IS ALL KNOWING; ALL PRESENT!
3. Steve, do you not know? Has it not been declared to you from the beginning? It is God who gives you your strength; it is God who gives you your power! Stop! Look! Listen! PRA(Y)ISE! Fly/Run/Walk!
GOD IS GOOD ALL THE TIME! Steve
Thank you. I needed that today. I'm going to take a deep breath and continue to trust in God. My husband is teaching a class at church on the subject of "fear." He has in his study found that fear is the recognition that we are not in control. The physical symptoms of heart pounding, vision tunneling, and acute perceptions are all just surface, but deep inside we have fear because we realize that we don't have control over the car skidding off the road, the man holding the gun, the rabid dog ready to attact, etc. Fearing God is simply recognizing that HE is in control, all the time of everything. Our "homework" these last few weeks has been to stop each day and deliberately pray (as did Daniel, Hannah, David, and Mary) recognizing God's ultimate control over everything and giving Him control of our life and day. It has been one of the most peace building experiences of my life. God bless and thanks again for sharing this scripture today.