I will be with you

But now, thus says the LORD, who created you, O Jacob, And He who formed you, O Israel: "Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by your name; You are Mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; And through the rivers, they shall not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned, Nor shall the flame scorch you. – Isaiah 43v1-2

There are some folks out there who would have us believe that God's people are never going to have any troubles. They say that if we are truly following God everything is going to be rosy in the garden and we can always expect everything to go smoothly.

Funny how that is not what we see in scripture. Paul certainly did not experience that. He writes about shipwrecks and stonings and trials and beatings and persecutions and being left for dead. If any believer was ever spiritual and walking with God it was Paul and he went through plenty of trials.

Here we read of God's people going through both fire and flood with the knowledge that God is going through it with them. There is a key phrase here - 'I have redeemed you, I have called you by name, you are Mine.'

God never promises that we will avoid flood and fire, but He does promise that we are His and that we don't go through flood and fire alone. When we go through those time we can be assured that even though they may be tough times we can be assured that we will not be destroyed. We know that we may suffer pain and maybe even death, but still we are not destroyed because our relationship God is rock solid. Even our earthly destriuction does not negate our eternal protection as God's redeemed ones.

He is with us. We are His. He calls His redeemed by name. Take comfort because these great truths cannot be shaken. No matter what we face here He will always be there for us.

Praise God that we are His!