What Are You Reading? – Go with the Flow

well hello and happy monday welcome to this week's what's in the word and my name is Jacqueline Hyder for those of you who are new with us we're super excited to come with come to you every monday morning with a weekly devotional to get your week started off in God's word and this year we've been doing a series, if you will, called What Are You Reading? And so I've been reading, well, I've been reading chronologically through the Bible, or trying to, the very best I can, but I saw this verse in Isaiah, and it was just a wonderful reminder to me about, it made me think of going to the beach. And one of my most favorite things to do at the beach is to sit at the edge of the water like about five o'clock in the afternoon everybody's starting to go in and I just watch as the waves come in crashing on the shore and it's just so peaceful to me. I like to people watch and I like to see people's sandcastles that are so elaborate and so beautiful but what happens when those waves start coming in those sandcastles get washed away and It's kind of sad, but also satisfying to watch for some reason. But anyway, just when I stare out at the ocean like that, it just reminds me of God's power and how he just stirs up the waters. So the verse from Isaiah, verses from Isaiah 51, verses 15 and 16, I'm going to read for you today. It says, I am the Lord your God who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar. The Lord of hosts is his name. And I have put my words in your mouth and covered you in the shadow of my hand, establishing the heavens and laying the foundations of the earth and saying to Zion, you are my people. And so obviously that first little section in verse 15, the God, the Lord, your God, who stirs up the seas. And I just think so much of God's power in it as he stirs up the sea. But interestingly enough, it also reminded me of something I experienced this summer at the beach. We were in Daytona Beach, actually, where we had never been before. And we were, it was not the end of the day, it was middle of the day, really. And there were a lot of times that we saw the lifeguards just come running and going out, blowing their whistles, running their little beach mobile up and down the strip, just going and telling people to come in. The undertow was incredibly rough that particular day. It was very strong. And at one point, we saw like a host of lifeguards just go running super fast to the water and some went in and we looked and there was this little boy he was probably eight or nine years old and he was stuck way out and like i said the undertow was terrible so he was straining and trying to swim in basically fighting against the current rather than swimming parallel with the with the with the shore so that he could get out of that current and so obviously the lifeguards came in and ultimately got him and he was fine just a little scared as you would imagine but it just made me think about how so often in our circumstances um and whatever's going on we are fighting against the current we are fighting against the waves um but this isaiah 51 15 and 16 is such a wonderful reminder because as i said i am the lord your god who stirs up the sea that it's waves war. That's God's power. He stirs up the sea. He does all that. And then it says, the Lord of hosts, the commander of the armies of the Lord. That's what the Lord of hosts is. The commander of the armies of the Lord is his name. He's in authority. He's in command. He is in control. But then it goes on to say, and I had put my words in your mouth. Again, his authority, putting words in the mouths of his people. But then, so that's his power right there. And then it says, and covered you in the shadow of my hand. That's his protection. That's the place of refuge that he has for us. And then finally it says, establishing the heavens and laying the foundations. That's his provision. He's established. He's laid the foundation of the earth. And so I just saw those three Ps, if you will, power, protection, and provision, within just those little couple of verses. But going back to the little boy, how often do we fight against the waves rather than trusting God's power to get us in and through, around, out of whatever situation we're in? Trusting his hand of protection on us if we're going through that or someone we love is going through something. And then recognizing the provisions that he has for us in the midst of that thing. If we will just surrender to the Lord, if we will just cooperate with him, allow him to do his work. And rather than fighting against those waves, swim parallel, if you will, like cooperate with, go with the flow, so to speak. If we will go with him, if we will allow him to take control, he is in control, but if we would just let go of those reins, so to speak, then we can get through those things because he's with us. He's fighting for us. The commander of the armies of the Lord, the Lord of hosts, is with us. So just remember that this week. Whatever you're going through, if you know someone who's dealing with something, just remember God's power, his protection, and his provision. He is in complete authority, in control. He has got you, sweetheart. He has got you, my friend. And he will never leave you. And he's always there to protect you and to provide for whatever needs you have. I hope that encourages you this week. I pray that you have a wonderful 4th of July, and we'll see you next week. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. you

Originally published at warren.church.