Letting Go

Daily Reading: Isaiah 55-56

Scripture Focus: For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord.  For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.  (Isaiah 55.8-9)

Devotional Thought: Every summer for the past 9 years - along with holidays and school breaks - I have had to "let go" for eight weeks as my oldest daughter left my care to spend time in North Carolina.  Letting go is not easy, but I can attest that when I refuse to let go, the result is anxiety. 

When we truly believe that God loves us and that He can be trusted, there is no need for fear in any circumstance.  The perfect love of God casts out fear!  So, the answer to our anxiety is to acknowledge God’s sovereignty alongside His perfect love for us.  And here the Lord declares through Isaiah: “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways... For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts” (vv. 8-9).

I find myself relieved that my intellect and understanding are not the end-all-be-all.  If God always worked exactly as I expected, what kind of god would he be? 

Instead of always rescuing us from our circumstances, He works through our circumstances to refine us, to mold us, and to draw us to him.  There, we find joy and peace.  I will leave you with the encouraging words of John Oxenham’s 1913 poem, titled “God’s Handwriting.”

 He writes in characters too grand / For our short sight to understand / We catch but broken strokes, and try / To fathom all the mystery / Of withered hopes, of death, of life / The endless war, the useless strife / But there, with larger, clearer sight / We shall see this – His way was right.

Jenny Wade

Prayer: Lord, thank you for all of the ways you keep us close to you. Even when our circumstances are overwhelming, we can rest on your promises and the assurance that you will walk with us through every situation.  Amen.

Psalm of the Day: Psalm 90.13-17

13 Return, O LORD! How long? Have pity on your servants!

14 Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.

15 Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us, and for as many years as we have seen evil.

16 Let your work be shown to your servants, and your glorious power to their children.

17 Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us, and establish the work of our hands upon us; yes, establish the work of our hands!