November 10, 2019 at 8:52 am · naltadonna · Comments Off on Through the Valley: Week 2
Through the Valley: Week 2
Being a Christian does not mean life is all sunshine and mountaintops. Sometimes in life we have to walk through the valley of darkness and suffering. We are in the middle of the series “Through the Valley,” which is inspired by Psalm 23:4, “Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me, your rod and your staff, they comfort me.” When we walk through the valley of depression, fear, sickness, aging, or grief, God is present, walking alongside us.
Isaiah 46:1-13 was written to a people who had been in the valley for a long time. The Judeans had been conquered by Babylon and exiled to a foreign land to live. They grieved the loss of loved ones, they mourned uprooting from their home and moving to a new land, and they struggled with sickness and aging. Isaiah 46 is believed to have been written to the Judeans while in exile or immediately after the exile. In Isaiah 46, God calls out the idols the Judeans worshipped, saying that they were powerless when compared with God. While these idols had to be carried, God carries us.
In this scripture, God offers a word of hope that God carries us from before we were born in our mother’s womb all the way until we turn gray and die. God invited the Judeans to remember how God had carried and supported them- from the Exodus in Egypt to the Promised Land to God’s continual faithfulness to the covenant to ensuring that the Jewish people survived as a distinct group. Not only does God walk with us through the valley, but God also carries us. The word “carry” reminds us of the parable of the lost sheep and the shepherd who carried the lost sheep back into the fold. God holds us, supports us, and bears our burdens too. There is no place we can go that God is not willing to go. We can find hope in the truth that God carries us from womb to tomb.
Questions to Consider and Discuss:
- Read Isaiah 46:3-4. What is one invitation from God that you receive as you read this passage?
- How have you experienced God carrying you through the valley?
Scripture Readings:
- Monday- Isaiah 46:1-13
- Tuesday- Isaiah 53:1-12
- Wednesday- Luke 15:3-7
- Thursday- Matthew 11:25-30
- Friday- Psalm 23:1-6
Categories: Sermons
