Isaiah 41:10 “So do not fear [1], for I am with you; do not be dismayed [2], for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.”
What encouragement the second portion of this verse should provide to us in our most critical times, when fear and dismay tend to kick in. We are essentially told we have no need to feel anxious, concerned, or alarmed. We are told to not lose our courage or resolve. In the face of so many disheartening events that could potentially come at us, we are told that our Heavenly Father will strengthen us and help us; He will lift us up and be our salvation in our most desperate times. Sometimes our worst enemy is ourselves. We overreact to those things that we see or perceive to be a reality. Our adrenaline kicks in and our emotions are quickly off to the races. We no longer need to be engaged in that. We should take a deep breath, exhale slowly and know in our spirit that God sees what is happening and has things under control. We may get buffeted about, but we will also come out stronger in our faith if we rely on God to help us.
The Bible gives God human characteristics, in this case a hand. Now God is a spirit so He cannot have a hand, but so we can visualize Him and the assistance He will give us, we see it in scripture as something we can relate to, a hand. When people help one another, they “give them a hand”. So, we can see in our minds eye the figurative righteous right hand of God helping us in our most critical time of need. It helps us see it a lot better than just telling us God will help us. God loves each and every one of us and wishes to help us succeed in this life for Him. True success is not measured in monetary or materialistic terms. It is measured by character and how we utilize the things God has given us. Everything we have is on loan to us: our bodies, our lives, our money, and our families. God gave them to us. We are to treat them with the same respect we are to show God Himself. We have nothing to fear in this life. The only thing we should fear is God and even that fear is found in our reverence and awe of Him, not being afraid of Him. He knows our current circumstances and will help us in our times of need. Until next time, walk with the King and be a blessing.
Richard Keller
Bread of Life Ministries
[1] fear - 1: an unpleasant often strong emotion caused by anticipation or awareness of danger 2: anxious concern 3: profound reverence and awe especially toward God 4: reason for alarm: danger.
[2] dis•may - 1: to cause to lose courage or resolution (because of alarm or fear) 2: upset, perturbed.
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