Perhaps today you are feeling forgotten, or perhaps forlorn. Maybe you just don’t have the faith to step out and walk on.
Perhaps there are hurts that have not been healed; forgiveness that has not been given; dreams that have not been realized.
Some days we find this journey is laden with the disappointments of doubt and our own sin, and others it is just full of holes that were of no fault of our own. For those days I want to remind you of your place as His own dear child. I want to remind you of the truth in His Word. It is a reminder, a promise, that I need to tell myself as well.
Let’s go to His Word to remind us ~
Deuteronomy 33:12 says, ” The beloved of the Lord shall dwell in safety by Him; and the Lord shall cover him all the day long, and he shall dwell between his shoulders.”
I love the word-pictures that I can draw from scripture. I thought about this promise the other day as I pondered the days and weeks prior. Hard days, scary days, days of question and prayer. Have you ever had those days? Days in which fear was rearing its ugly little head, taunting me to doubt and worry. {Please note that the use of the adjective little is profound, here… fear is small in the face of truth. It really has no authority in your life, as a believer, and according to the Word, it is a name which is securely placed under the feet of Jesus..the Name above all Names. Phil 2:9 and Eph. 1:21-22}
As I spent time, quiet before my King, I asked for a reminder of His promise. I sought the assurance of His voice speaking into my heart. As He always does, I was led to His Word. His confirmation is His oath. He alone is the surety I need to remember, because He alone is my hope and my confidence. He is my secure resting place in all times… times of trouble, rejoicing and even rest. He is also my teacher, my healer, and my deliverer. It is when we look to him as our source that we no longer look to the world, our own gifts, our others to meet our needs. We can also look fear squarely in the face and remember that He has overcome the World. ( 1 John 4:4)
Over and over in this walk with Christ, I have only had to bow and acknowledge that I tried to do it on my own, or consider a situation based on my own understanding. There will be times we can never truly understand what is before us. There will be days where the hope we have seems fleeting and false. There will be times when our faith is crumbled into pieces which can not be resurrected, but there is redemption in the broken of this World at the hands of the One who holds this world.
Images bring solidification to the view we have formed in our mind. In His creative way, He has given us the ability to ‘see’ beyond the temporal into the eternal as yet one more assurance that He is at work in our lives perfecting them for his glory. ( 2 Cor 4:18,Phil 1:6). With eyes of faith look at this promise and consider what it means.
Isaiah 49:16( Amplified version)
~Behold, I have indelibly imprinted ( tatooed a picture of) you on the plam of each of my hands.~
No matter where I go, no matter what I do, I am ever present before the Almighty because He SEES me. He sees beyond my lack of faith, my fear, and my inner struggle to trust His Truth. He sees beyond the trials and notices the glow of the shining new form which has been molded by the fire. He SEES the broken heart and rushes to hold it securely between his shoulders, sheltered in the heart-beat of the One who gives life. He is El Elyon, the most high God, and El Roi, the God who SEES me. ( Gen 16:13) His is love and light and hope in the midst of my trial and burden in this life, and if I am truly aware I will exchange my burden for His… giving Him my yoke, allowing Him to carry it for me, with me.
Sometimes the circumstances don’t change, but my heart does. I can choose to praise Him because no matter what else happens in this earthly life, I have nothing else to ask of Him. He saved a wretched sinner, by grace, and brought me from the darkness into the light. He extends the scepter of forgiveness when I still stumble with the ability to love and give grace abundantly. He gave me life, and continues to shower favor though I can’t earn it through my works or my ability. The issues may still be there, the healing may never come, the dream may die as a seed sown for one that is better, ( maybe not bigger but different or just directed to Him), but He will never leave me and His hope is still eternally sure.
I am sheltered in between His shoulders, His beloved hidden in the vast chambers where life pumps into my heart the promises that eternity has already etched for me. ( Psalm 139) I can be real. I can be raw. I can be Me. All because in Him… I have hope, I can dream, I can believe.
Praying for you today to know the shelter of His presence in a way you may never have known. May the whisper of the Holy Spirit be a soft wind in your hearing ear guiding you to the promises that meet each need you bring to the Cross. May you rest securely in between His shoulders and know you are His Beloved.
Download a You Rest Securely In His Heart Bookmark to remind you of this promise.
Please feel free to leave a prayer request. It is a joy to pray for others.
Leave a request in the comment section, or send me an email at dawnboyer@journeysingrace.com
