Tag: life

Music to my Soul – God is the Song

Have you been in a situation that might have typically sent you into a period of anxiety, but instead, you found yourself at peace and with a song in your heart? Just as negative emotions can draw us to God, positive ones, unexpected ones, can do the same. We find ourselves glad in stressful situations, and we thank and praise God. Or maybe we must make an intentional choice to trust God in spite of looming feelings. Either way, Isaiah has something to teach us.

As I pondered Isaiah 12:2 recently, a few ideas began to develop. Questions from another resource guided more thoughts toward application. I modified the questions for this blog.

Isaiah 12:2 says,

“Surely God is my salvation; I will trust and not be afraid. The LORD, the LORD Himself, is my strength and my song; He has become my salvation.

I serve a God who saves. This salvation is eternal. It is also daily. He helps me to take up my cross daily (Luke 9:23-24). He saves me daily from my own weaknesses and wandering. When I put my trust in His power, then my flesh and sinful nature no longer have to control me. I choose to walk in the Spirit. When I don’t, that’s on me because 2 Peter 1:3 tells me that He gives me all I need for a godly life.

What concepts are important to remember about this verse?

Only the LORD can perform these acts

-Only the LORD can provide strength.

-Only the LORD can provide my song.

How does the verse help your faith to grow?

I notice two “I will” statements.

I will trust –

I will not be afraid-

Isaiah is confident that because God is His salvation, then his response is trust in God. Isaiah chooses not to be afraid. Because fear, as overwhelming as it can be, is still our choice. Again, God gives us everything we need to live a godly life (2 Peter 1:3).

Which concepts come to mind that apply to you?

He has always been.

He has my salvation sealed.

He has delivered me from darkness.

He has shown me His love.

He has been faithful to me.

I think when God strengthens me, He leaves me with a song. Isaiah records that God was his song. The song has strength before it and salvation after it. That sounds like a defense against the evil one and darkness. One translation says, “ Surely God is my salvation; I will trust and not be afraid. The LORD, the LORD Himself, is my strength and my defense; He has become my salvation.

My prayer:

Dear Lord,
You are my strength and my song. Your salvation is my foundation. Your song is the celebration and worship in between, which gives me strength for the journey. Help me focus on you. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

Reader, you will answer these questions differently. The Holy Spirit will speak to you in personal ways for your need. After you study this, share it with another Christian who needs encouragement. Tell them what this verse means to you and about the power of God’s Word.

©Valerie Rumfelt

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No Ordinary Trees

I don’t know about you, but time and again, I’m amazed by how one can take great photos from an iPhone! In my day, great photographs came from a traditional, expensive camera, and there were people called photographers who took those photos. The rest of us attempted great shots but were often disappointed by blurry, oops, our finger in front of the lens, not great at all pictures. But these days, technology is so advanced that our devices can capture our lives with precision and clarity that is beyond our expectations. Additionally, free online classes that teach how to shoot these eye-catching photos with the iPhone give us skills at our fingertips.

One day as I was listening to an iPhone photography video, the instructor taught me how to frame a photo. There was one tree in a field that was his focus. When he talked about framing the picture, he said, “ It’s just an ordinary tree.” He was setting me up to show me how he could make an “ordinary tree” look spectacular. Instead, he sent my mind thinking, “ there are no ordinary trees!” As a lover of trees, I thought of the times a tree initiated my worship of its Creator. Trees are amazing as most things in creation, but trees have a presence and display God’s glory and what they offer to humankind, and the animal kingdom is magnificent.

Some trees are stunning in their form, whether my amazement comes from their stately form or their spindly or gnarly details. Others are dead yet still, display a hollow, docile beauty of their own, and others are floral or bear fruit, and fragrance wafts from their verdant form. Still, others are puny, unpruned, out of control, and fruitless. Whatever the tree’s condition, trees are incredible. There are no ordinary trees.

I think this is what our Creator God thinks because He uses trees throughout His holy Word to make points and underscore principles. There was one tree from which our Savior hung so that all who believe would be forgiven and gain eternal life. If you’ve not paid attention to the trees nearest you lately, perhaps these verses will bring awareness to the fact that there are no ordinary trees.

Then God said, “Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds.” And it was so. Genesis 1:11

Let the fields be jubilant, and everything in them; let all the trees of the forest sing for joy. Psalm 96:12

Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Savior. Habakkuk 3:17-18

But blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in him. They will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit. Jeremiah 17:7-8

“No good tree bears bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit.”  Luke 6:43

The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, and those who win souls are wise. Proverbs 11:30

Then he lay down under the tree and fell asleep. All at once an angel touched him and said, “Get up and eat.” I Kings 19:5

He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers. Psalm 1:3

Zaccheus was trying to see who Jesus was, and he was unable due to the crowd because he was short in stature. So he ran on ahead and climbed up a sycamore tree in order to see Him because He was about to pass through that way. Luke 19:3&4

The glory of Lebanon shall come to you, the cypress, the plane, and the pine, to beautify the place of my sanctuary, and I will make the place of my feet glorious. Isaiah 60:13

Then I will give you your rains in their season, and the land shall yield its increase, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit. Leviticus 26:4

His shoots shall spread out; his beauty shall be like the olive, and his fragrance like the Lebanon. Hosea 14:6

The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom you had put to death by hanging Him on a cross. Acts 5:30

I think that I shall never see a poem lovely as a tree.

Joyce Kilmer

©Valerie Rumfelt

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