For I, the Lord your God, hold your right hand; it is I who say to you, “Fear not, I am the one who helps you.” Isaiah 41:13(ESV).
God established the trustworthiness of His name. He holds our dominant hand like a loving father, reminding us to trust and rely on Him; in this position, we never have to fear. He is our help and strength.
We must learn to discern the voice of the Lord. I am so thankful for the Bible that gives us everything we will ever need to know about God. It would take an entire lifetime to understand the truths of this book, and even still, we would not be able to uncover all its mysteries. But the greatest mystery of all is the love that God has for us, His character, and who He is, and our attempt to understand perfect holiness and righteousness when we have never seen or experienced what that could possibly look like. Sin has so infected our hearts that we believe that we have an idea of what true justice is. The only problem is that our version usually serves us selfishly in one way or another.
God establishes His name when He says, “For I, the Lord your God.” He is reminding us of who He is and what is possible. God holds our right hand, implying that He holds our dominant hand to give us strength, guidance and help and to remind us that we cannot accomplish the same on our own. Like a loving Father holds the hand of a child and leads them, so too our Loving Father holds our right hand and leads us. We are safe and protected, and we will get where we need to go if we hold fast to God’s hand and allow Him to lead us in our weakness.
He establishes His name before He reminds us to fear not. He reminds us that we need not fear because He is with us and will help us. Anytime I step out into a new place, face a giant, or do something far beyond my own ability, I need reassurance that I have help. The scariest place to be is by yourself when you are facing a giant beyond your strength. But the God of heaven and earth, the creator of all and all-powerful one, says I am holding your hand and leading you, and you don’t have to fear because I am going to help you. What a beautiful promise.
Now, many of us have found ourselves in the midst of a battle or facing a major obstacle, alone, with no one to help, no one to intervene, and no one to rescue us. Many of us have found ourselves in an absolute place of failure and defeat with no help in sight. Asking, “Where are you, God? I am lost, alone and overtaken. Where are you, God?
The children of Israel found themselves in this place over and over again. They found themselves in complete captivity, looking to everything else for help and trying to sprinkle God in too. Sometimes we start a journey we were never meant to take, and yet we expect God to meet us there and be this helper and strength. But in His great love and mercy, He gives us over to our desire, to the fruit of our hopes and dreams, to the longing of our souls, only to find that if God is not occupying that space, we are going to be left looking for something else.
I am not saying it’s our own fault when we are alone, but sometimes God allows us to have what we think we want to bring us back to Him. He is not afraid of suffering, and because He knows all things, and redeems all things, He knows that suffering is part of what produces character in us. We make choices, and others make choices for us; both have fruit. If you find yourself in defeat and alone, it might be time to surrender it all to God, who wants to do this life with you.
In the very next verse, in Isaiah 41:14, He says: “Fear not, Jacob, you worm, I am the one who helps you, your redeemer. You see, nothing is lost. So, if you are feeling lower than a worm, God is still your help and redeemer. Will you let Him have his way?
