Spirituality Classroom Blog

Today I'm thinking about one of my favorite Scriptures from Isaiah.  It reads this way:

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.  (Isaiah 43:1-2)

This passage of Scripture has always comforted me.  Even though I know that Isaiah meant these words for the people of Israel, I also hear them personally, as though the Lord is telling ME to “Fear not, because He has redeemed ME."  And that no matter what life events come my way – even the traumatic ones – the Lord will never leave my side.  Since I believe that that is true, I am comforted.  And somehow my faith grows.

If we sort of back out of the Book of the...

The Palmist said, “You are my hiding place and my shield; I hope in your word.”  (Psalm 119:114)

And a contemporary songwriter wrote these words based on that verse, “You are my hiding place.  You preserve me from trouble.  You always fill my heart with songs of deliverance.  Whenever I am afraid I will trust in you.  Let the weak say “I am strong in the strength of the Lord.” ¹

It is the Lord’s joy to do all of that for us.  It is his joy when we know that he is our inner hiding place, and that we can go there any time we need to or want to.  It is his joy to fill our hearts with songs of deliverance from whatever tempts us to think that somewhere else is our hiding place.  It gives the Lord joy when we trust in him instead of letting our fear take us somewhere else.  It is his joy when we allow his strength to make us strong.  His strength undergirds us when we are broken-hearted.  His...

In the Gospel of John Chapter 4:7-15, we read the story of Jesus at the well when a Samaritan woman comes to draw water.  Jesus asks her for a drink. 

The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of Samaria?”  For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.  Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.”  The woman said to him, “Sir you have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep; where do you get that living water?  Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well, and drank from it himself, and his sons, and his cattle?”  Jesus said to her, “Every one who drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst; the water that I shall give him will become in him...

How many Scripture verses can you recite from memory?  Perhaps you know a verse or two from Psalm 23 – you know – “The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want…” Or maybe you know the whole Psalm by heart.  Or how about this verse from Psalm 27:    “The Lord is my light and my salvation, of whom then shall I be afraid?” 

When we know Bible verses from memory, they become part of our mental furniture, and they go with us wherever we go.  And when we need comfort or strength, there is that verse popping up in our mind.

What about this Scripture for comfort and strength from Matthew 11:28-30.

“Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”  

Many Christians have memorized...