⁸ “But as for you, Israel my servant,
    Jacob my chosen one,
    descended from Abraham my friend,
⁹ I have called you back from the ends of the earth,
    saying, ‘You are my servant.’
For I have chosen you
    and will not throw you away.
¹⁰ Don’t be afraid, for I am with you.
    Don’t be discouraged, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you and help you.
    I will hold you up with my victorious right hand.

Isaiah 41:8-10

Dear God, I had an interesting dream last night. Frankly, my wife puts more stock in my dreams than I do, but when I woke up I tried to remember it, and then I asked myself what it could me if it had a meaning at all.

Without going into too many details, I was traveling on the highway when I came upon heavy rain. I kept raining, but when I came over a rise I saw a bridge and at the bridge it had iced over and it was white with snow on the other side. I hit the brakes and safely skidded to a stop in the median. I was tucked safely away behind a barrier while cars crashed around me. Ultimately, I was able to see a live stream of the place where I was heading, and I saw that the sun was out and people were outside enjoying beautiful weather. The bad weather I was experiencing ultimately cleared, and I proceeded on. There are some other details involving my wife and I being physically separated from each other and me finding her before we moved on, but that was the gist of it. As I wondered what it could mean if you intended it to mean anything, what I thought about was how things might be dangerous ahead so stop and seek shelter. Things will crash around me, but then everything will clear up and I’ll be able to continue on my journey to a place that is good and peaceful.

So that almost sounds like the kind of thing I would draw up as a sermon illustration. You will take care of me here. Ultimately, the new earth you have for me is good. Don’t be afraid of the danger and chaos in the present. Stay as close to my wife as I can, even when we are not physically together. Okay. I’m good with that. That’s not to say that I think bad things can’t happen to me in this life or that I expect you to keep me from bad things. That would be haughty and arrogant of me to expect or ask. Who am I to not suffer compared to the wonderful people around me?

Then I read the Bible Gateway verse of the day this morning. Isaiah 41:10:

¹⁰ Don’t be afraid, for I am with you.
    Don’t be discouraged, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you and help you.
    I will hold you up with my victorious right hand.

I don’t like taking Bible verses out of context–especially the middle of a prophecy. So I captured some of the verses before this one too, but this verse seemed to play into the narrative of the dream I had. Don’t be afraid. Don’t be discouraged. You are with me. You will strengthen me and help me. You will hold me up.

Father, I’m not claiming any of it. If you offer it, of course, I will accept, but I would never expect that my life should be better than the next person’s. There is no reason Ukrainians, Russians, Palestinians, or Israelis should suffer more than I do. There are good people all over the world suffering now. So I ask, for my life, that you help me to take the gifts you give me and use the for your glory. If it’s to be safe and secure, help me to not waste the time. If it’s to have sorrow and suffer, make it count for your glory. But I am yours either way. I love you.

I pray all of this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen