God is with us in the Chaos

Sometimes in our lives, we find ourselves in chaos. Some chaos can be hard, some chaos can be fun, sometimes we don’t know what to expect in the chaos. We just know that we are in it. Join us for a reading from Isaiah 43.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:05

Hey friends, it has been a while since I've been on the podcast. My apologies. I have been busy between some time away and a bishop election and all sorts of other things. But I wanted to check in particularly tonight. As you can tell, maybe behind me, we had our first night of vacation Bible school, and we're doing a rainforest theme, and it was super fun. But the first night of vacation Bible school is also just chaos, right? Everybody's trying to figure out where they go and what to expect and what's coming next and well who's in what class and all of the things. And it got me thinking that sometimes in our lives we have this chaos that we just don't expect, and it kind of hits us out of nowhere, and we're not really sure how to handle it. And so I thought I would share with you a good verse, or a few verses, I guess, um, that talk about chaos from Isaiah forty-three. And it says this But now thus says the Lord, he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel, do not fear for I have redeemed you. I have called you by name, you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you, and through the rivers they shall not overwhelm you. When you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you. For I am the Lord your God, the holy one of Israel, your Savior. I give Egypt as your ransom, Ethiopia and Seba in exchange for you, because you are precious in my sight and honored, and I love you. I give people in return for you, nations in exchange for your life. Do not fear for I am with you. I will bring your offspring from the east, and from the west I will gather you. I will say to the north, give them up, and to the south, do not withhold. Bring my sons from far away and my daughters from the ends of the earth, everyone who is who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made. And I wonder tonight, um, what is it that's kind of bringing some chaos into your world, whether it's vacation Bible school, or whether it's summer schedules where everything's kind of crazy and you never know where everybody's supposed to be, or it's getting ready to go on trips and then going on trips and then coming back and having all the laundry, or it's just getting up and going to work every day, and you're just staying tired. And I wanted to encourage you tonight by reminding you that God is with you in whatever chaos of your life you might be facing, that God is with us in the joy of vacation Bible school, in the tears of kiddos who are missing parents, in the excitement and in all of it. God is with us and walks with us and carries us through. So if you remember nothing else tonight, as you get ready for bed or you on wind or you try and calm kids down from vacation Bible school, I invite you to remember that in the midst of the chaos, God is here, here, hanging out with you, walking with you, watching over you. Can I pray with you? Let's pray. God of grace, we thank you that you're with us in the chaos. We thank you that you walk with us and give us time to take our breath, time to be calm in the middle of the fire, in the middle of the river, in the middle of whatever it is that we're facing. God, that you are our strength, you are our guide. Sometimes you just carry us through. Help us be with us tonight, Lord, and remind us that you are our God in all things. In your heavenly name we pray. Amen. Have a good night, friends. Bye.