Grass and Flowers

Isa. 40:30-31

Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not be faint.

 

 

How great is our God! All flesh, no matter how powerful or important, is grass, and all its beauty is like the flower of the field. The grass withers, the flower dies, but the word of our God will stand forever. Nothing that man can achieve, build, invent, accomplish, etc. lasts any longer than God has proclaimed it would. Strangely enough, man, in his few short years on earth, thinks he is master of his destiny even when he sees evidence to the contrary. Meteorologists may be able to predict hurricane Sandy's path and fortify against her ravages, but they can do nothing to stop her, for that matter even their fortifications were sadly lacking. The same goes for illness and financial ruin. The best health insurance or physician cannot prevent man from dying or from disease destroying his physical body, and no amount of financial strategies will stave off a recession or a  depression. Certainly, it may appear that man is controlling things, but when God sends Sandy, it is all over! When God has decreed human events, man cannot circumvent them. His word will stand forever and will always be True. Just because someone says there is no god doesn't make that true in the least. In fact, many of man's grandiose statements are merely the ravings of grass and flower withering to eventual death. All nations are as nothing before Him, they are accounted by Him as less than nothing and emptiness.

 

But for the believer, He will tend His flock like a Shepard; He will gather the lambs in His arms; He will carry them in His bosom, and gently lead those that are with young. He is there with us as we endure the hardships and storms of life. He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength. How ironic that people in their prime think they have maximum strength, intelligence, and power, and are in need of nothing, especially something coming from God. They seem to have forgotten aging, disease, storms, financial ruin, etc. They think they are superior to all those who have gone before, to all those who have left a record of their failures. They refuse to learn from history. Man cannot sustain strength for the long haul! There are too many factors that he cannot control even though he believes he can. Once again, just because he says he can doesn't make it true. I am waiting on the Lord for all my strength so that when He says run, I can run. When He says, don't faint, I won't. My life is in the hands of the eternal God whose word is everlastingly true! Why would I stoop so low as to follow my own human inclinations or allow humanity to diminish my faith in the One who truly is powerful!

 

Father,

Take away my fear of the future and of the ravings of politicians.  Keep me resting in You as the storms You have sent become a reality. I know that You are my sufficiency, but help me live that truth.

In Jesus name,

Amen