Storm-Battered and Unconsoled

Storm-Battered and Unconsoled

Isaiah 54:11-14 “O afflicted one,* storm-battered and unconsoled, I lay your pavements in carnelians, your foundations in sapphires; I will make your battlements of rubies, your gates of jewels, and all your walls of precious stones. All your children shall be taught by the LORD; great shall be the peace of your children. In justice shall you be established, far from oppression, you shall not fear, from destruction, it cannot come near.  If there be an attack, it is not my doing; whoever attacks shall fall before you.”

When I read this verse this morning I knew this was the one.  So many are struggling right now.  This verse is to show you that God understands.  “O afflicted one, storm-battled and unconsoled.”  He gets it.  He understands how you are feeling.  He’s showing you that He sees you.  You haven’t somehow escaped His attention.  He knows you are suffering and he knows that you are unconsoled.  

Once He has your attention and lets you know He sees you, then He is telling you that he has laid the way before you with precious stones.  “I lay your pavements in carnelians (a semi-precious stone), I lay your foundations in sapphires; I will make your battlements of rubies, your gate of jewels, and all your walls of precious stones.”  Actually the Lord is not just talking about laying the road before you, He is talking about building all around you.  He talks about the pavements, which I was thinking was the path ahead.  However, then He talks about your foundation, your walls, your battlements, and your gates.  We all know that if we wish to get anywhere in life, we need to have a firm foundation.  If our foundation isn’t firm, it won’t support us.  

This reminds me of Matthew 7:24-27, “Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.”  If we don’t build our house on a firm foundation it will slip away.  

Next, the Lord talks about our battlements made of rubies.  I was not sure what battlements were, so I looked it up.  Battlements are the parapets at the top of a wall, especially of a fort or castle, that have regularly spaced squared openings for shooting through.  Also, our walls are make of precious stones and our gates of jewels.  These are how we defend ourselves.  God is building these things for us out of the finest materials.  He is our protection and He will make sure we are safe.

The next part of the verse says, “All your children shall be taught by the Lord; great shall be the peace of your children.”  This might not be your experience right now.  You may hear this and wonder when that peace is going to come.  I know when I read that line, I thought that is not true for so many children I know these days.  I have heard several people say over the last few months that it seems like the enemy is really attacking God’s faithful ones through their children and their marriages.  There are so many children struggling right now with so many things.  The mental health of our kids is under attack for sure.  Also, with social media and constant access to their phones, our children are being bullied in ways we don’t even know.  

I am surprised at the number of young kids who are willing to send inappropriate photos over the phone because it doesn’t feel like a big deal.  It feels like everyone is doing it.  I think social media also allows kids to say things that they would never say to someone’s face because they just have to type it into a phone.  It gives them a sense that they are somewhat removed from it.  I have three teenagers, and I get how hard it can be.  If you are listening to this and you either have teenagers or maybe you have teenager grandkids or nieces and nephews, I would say pray for them definitely and also remember this promise from God.  “All  your children shall be taught by the Lord; great shall be the peace of your children.”  God always keeps his promises.  He doesn’t tell us when they will have peace, but he tells us they will.  Our job is to keep them going through the hard times until they have this peace.

The next part may be hard to understand as well.“ In justice shall you be established, far from oppression, you shall not fear, from destruction, it cannot come near.”  You will be established in justice, far from oppression, destruction cannot come near.  If you are struggling right now, this may be hard to take in.  It may be hard to see how you are far from oppression.  It may seem like oppression is all around you.  You may feel beaten down at every turn.  If this is you, remember the ending of that line, destruction cannot come near.  Although you may be struggling, this will not destroy you!  You will make it though this.  Whatever it is, you will come out on the other side being better, stronger, and more faith filled.  God is with you through this difficult time.  He is building this protective house around you.  Keep hanging in there.  

The ending of this verse may be the most important to hear for some of you. “  If there be an attack, it is not my doing; whoever attacks shall fall before you.”  This is so important for us to realize.  “If there be an attack is it not my doing.”  I bet we have all wondered or even ask God, “What have I done to deserve this?”  If you have thought this, you are not alone.  The apostles also thought this way.  In John 9:1-3 it says, “As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”  "Neither this man nor his parents sinned," said Jesus, "but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life.”

God is telling in both these verses, we didn’t do anything.  This is not His doing.  He did not give you cancer, He did not take away your loved one, He did not cause your spouse to leave, it is not His doing.   I love the last sentence.  He says, whoever attacks shall fall before you.  He is showing us that evil will not win in the end.  Evil will not get the last word.  He will protect us and He will defeat evil.  Whoever attacks shall fall before you.  

There are several promises in this scripture verse today.  If you are struggling, if you feel storm battered and unconsoled, maybe write this verse down and read it again.  Try sitting with this verse and see how God wants to use it to talk to you.  The things I said about the verse today, actually any day in this podcast is just the way God is talking to be about the different verses.  However, He wants to make each verse personal to you.  If you spend some time after you listen to the podcast to reread the verse, it’s in the show notes, and then ask God what He wants to say to you about the verse, I am sure you will be surprised at what you start thinking about.  If you ask Him, He will answer, you just have to give Him the time to listen.  

Dear Heavenly Father, I ask that you bless all those listening to this episode today.  Lord, we thank you for showing us that you see us in our struggles and that you are there for us.  Thank you for building us a beautiful house of protection.  Thank you for promising peace for our children.  Thank you for letting us know that it is not you that is attacking us and that whoever does attack us will fall before us.  Lord, you are so loving and so merciful and we are so very lucky to have you in our lives.  We love you Lord and we ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus’ holy name, amen.

Thank you so much for joining me on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus.  I sent out a new email last night to all those signed up for the challenge. I hope everyone tried to love a little more last week. This week the character trait we will be working on is gentle.  One thing that we struggle with, that I am not sure Jesus struggled with is how to be gentle to ourselves.  So, there is information in the email on how to be gentle to yourselves and gentle to others.  If you would still like to sign up my email is [email protected].  I look forward to spending time with you again tomorrow.  Have a blessed day!