Our Sunday meeting this week was a Celebration and a time for both our congregations to meet together. This week was a time of sharing to encourage each other. Listening to people sharing is both encouraging and empowering, hearing how God is working amongst us all.
People talked about how God has been there to support and help in their everyday lives but also in special events that have been happening. We have an amazing God who is always there for us.
David Sharp has just started his new job as Children’s and Youth Worker for the Oaks. The Celebration was the perfect time for Church to pray for him. Again this is an encouragement for us all to see how God is working within the Oaks. David now has the opportunity to work within our communities engaging with children and changing lives.
The image below was shared from a walk along Derwent Edge in Derbyshire. Just being outside amongst God’s creation is an uplifting place to be and a reminder of our hope in God and his promise that he is there for us.
Genesis 9:12-15 NLT
“Then God said, “I am giving you a sign of my covenant with you and with all living creatures, for all generations to come. I have placed my rainbow in the clouds. It is the sign of my covenant with you and with all the earth. When I send clouds over the earth, the rainbow will appear in the clouds, and I will remember my covenant with you and with all living creatures. Never again will the floodwaters destroy all life”
Going Deeper
Isaiah 40:26-31:
“Look at the night skies: Who do you think made all this? Who marches this army of stars out each night, counts them off, calls each by name —so magnificent! so powerful!— and never overlooks a single one? Why would you ever complain, O Jacob, or, whine, Israel, saying, “God has lost track of me. He doesn’t care what happens to me”? Don’t you know anything? Haven’t you been listening? God doesn’t come and go. God lasts. He’s the Creator of all you can see or imagine. He doesn’t get tired out, doesn’t pause to catch his breath. And he knows everything, inside and out. He energises those who get tired, gives fresh strength to dropouts. For even young people tire and drop out, young folk in their prime stumble and fall. But those who wait upon God get fresh strength. They spread their wings and soar like eagles, They run and don’t get tired, they walk and don’t lag behind.
Isaiah wrote this to comfort, encourage, and restore faith to the Jewish exiles living in Babylon. At this point the Israelites had spent decades in captivity, they had seen destruction, suffered hardship and the people felt exhausted, forgotten, and abandoned by God.
Isaiah wanted to emphasise God’s unmatched power. Isaiah’s words were to remind the people that God is the eternal creator of the universe who calls every star by name and never grows faint or weary. If God has the power to sustain the world, He has the power to rescue His people.
As humans we suffer weakness but God has divine Strength. The truth is that even the strongest young people grow tired and stumble, showing that human strength does have its limits. Isaiah wanted the exiles to stop relying only on their own dwindling endurance and look to God.
To offer the Promise of Renewed Life. The passage ends with the promise that “those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles”. This verse was a reminder to Israel that the God who carried them out of their suffering in Egypt was ready to lift them up and carry them again.
More about Isaiah can be found in the BibleProject
Prayer
Lord, when we lift our eyes to the heavens and look at the stars, we can see that You created them all. Each one is called by its name because of Your great might and power, and not one of them is missing. Thank you father that you are there for each one of us, you are the everlasting God. Amen.
