Christian Counseling Service -- Devotions

Take me tender by the hand

Sunday, December 7, 2008

Isaiah 40:1-5
Comfort, give comfort to my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her that her service is at an end, her guilt is expiated; indeed, she has received from the hand of the LORD double for all her sins.

A voice cries out:
In the desert prepare the way of the LORD!
Make straight in the wasteland a highway for our God!
Every valley shall be filled in,
every mountain and hill shall be made low;
the rugged land shall be made a plain,
the rough country, a broad valley.
Then the glory of the LORD shall be revealed,
and all people shall see it together;
for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.

2 Peter 3:8-10
Do not ignore this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years and a thousand years like one day. The Lord does not delay his promise, as some regard "delay," but he is patient with you, not wishing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.

But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a mighty roar and the elements will be dissolved by fire, and the earth and everything done on it will be found out.

Who can be more gentle, the warrior or the nurse? Who can be stronger, the warrior or the nurse? What do I need from God?

Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so, little ones to him belong. They are weak, but he is strong. When I sing that song I'm a little child again, and I nestle in the arms of my strong dad, and God is nearby and taking care of all of us. There is nothing more I need to do.

Sweet dreams. God lets me lie in bed and holds me while the storms of illness and fear roll over me. He walks with me through my world while the snow blows, as the pantry empties, as the economy I "depend" on withers. He waits for me when I strike out alone.

This is my God. This is the One described as the ultimate leveler: filling in valleys, cutting down mountains and finally burning the basic elements of the earth into post-mordial dust. In this inferno every secret is uncovered and ego no longer blocks God's entry into my life but melts down around me.

Of course I am afraid. None of the storms I thought so strong match this. But as I shiver without control and sob, as my voice wails loud into the darkness, I know how tender this destroyer has been, and how much he loves me. And I wait for him.

My life is never ruined, Lord, and my heart never broken except that you rebuild what has been put down. Now and forever. I will trust in you.

Devotions Archive

Take me tender by the hand

Sunday, December 7, 2008