Where is the Lord God?
The wasted places, the lost places, the destroyed places, the messy places, the broken places, the hopeless places – we can all go back to those places in our minds, can’t we? We know them well.
When we go back to those places we feel all the same feelings as when we experienced them. Often they're magnified or morphed, in a way, because of our human need to make meaning and bring cohesion to our understanding of how the world fits together for us.
But God says He will create something new in place of those places. Over the top of, in the place of our greatest mess, our most broken, most helpless place, God says He will bring life right in the centre of those places so they are not what they were. They’re something completely new and different. He will turn something bad into something good. Waste into compost. Sludge into clean water. Pain into pleasure.
Isaiah 41:18 (NIV)
I will make rivers flow on barren heights, and springs within the valleys. I will turn the desert into pools of water, and the parched ground into springs.
Do you feel parched today? Sit in God’s presence and renew your mind, let Him pour His love into your heart, and see how He will make the rough places smooth.
Romans 12:2 (NLT)
Don’t copy the behaviour and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.
Romans 5:5 (MSB)
And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out His love into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, whom He has given us.
Isaiah 40:1, 4 (NIV)
Comfort, comfort my people, says your God…. Every valley shall be raised up, every mountain and hill made low; the rough ground shall become level, the rugged places a plain.
Isaiah 45:2 (NKJV)
‘I will go before you and make the crooked places straight; I will break in pieces the gates of bronze and cut the bars of iron.
The Lord God will do more than you know is possible in those demoralised and defunct places in your life. He will cause those places to flourish and will build on top of what has been cast down.
Isaiah 41:10 (GWT)
Don't be afraid, because I am with you. Don't be intimidated; I am your God. I will strengthen you. I will help you. I will support you with my victorious right hand.
The Lord is God and He will do it.
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