If you listen often to these broadcasts, you know that I’ve been thinking a lot about aging. That’s understandable, I’m getting older and feeling the years a little bit more with every passing year. However, I’m looking forward to the future. While this world seems to be in turmoil, I’m not. It’s a great time to be alive! But even as I look forward, I also look back and see God’s faithfulness. Whatever comes next, I know God will be there to see me through. Today, let’s listen to a passage that can help us when we don’t see how things are going to work out the way we want them to:

But now, O Jacob, listen to the Lord who created you. O Israel, the one who formed you says, “Do not be afraid, for I have ransomed you. I have called you by name; you are mine. When you go through deep waters I will be with you. When you go through rivers of difficulty, you will not drown. When you walk through the fire of oppression, you will not be burned up; the flames will not consume you. For I am the Lord, your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.” (Isaiah 43:1-3a)

Don’t you just love this passage? Isaiah tells us of a God who isn’t some kind of detached cosmic force drifting around the universe, indiscriminately affecting our lives. Instead, He is the God who cares for us. Have you ever been afraid of what might happen to you in the future? God says, “Do not be afraid, for I have ransomed you. I have called you by name; you are mine.” God says that He knows your name. Can you hear Him whispering to you? “You are mine.” He knows trouble will come. He tells of going through deep waters; of going through fires of oppression. Have you ever been through times like that? I have. What a precious truth: God cares for you and for me. “You are mine. For I am the Lord, your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.” Can you receive it? Today, I want to encourage you that whatever you are facing, God is facing it with you. In good times and bad times, God walks with you, beside you, caring, encouraging, strengthening, providing whatever you need.

He’s calling your name today: “I have called you by name… you are Mine!” And that’s such very Good News.