Cynde Layne Wilkerson
When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee. For I am the LORD thy God … Isaiah 43:1-3

Last night, I had the opportunity to hear Marvin Sapp sing these words, “I never would have made it, never could have made it, without you… when I look back over all you have brought me through, I can see that you were the one that I held on to and I never would have made it, without you.” I’m sure the words of this song are ones that you too, can also relate. There were many words spoken that resonated in my spirit but before I retired, I was reading something and these two words, “extraordinary mercy” jumped out at me and solidified the entire evening. There is something about getting a good word in the midnight hour!

If we were to describe extraordinary, we would say it can be defined as: astonishing, amazing, surprising, or exceptional; uncommon, unexpected, and unexplainable in most cases. Usually, it is so remarkable or great that it’s hard to explain what has happened. This is the God we serve, the one we love and who loves us; the One who grants us extraordinary mercies, compassion, kindness, favor and grace.

This passage is simple, yet powerful. These are words of comfort and it describes His extraordinary mercy not only to Israel but to us. It lets us know that He is our source of protection; our source of relief from the anxieties of this world. He assures us that we are safe from even the natural elements, and I not just speaking of water, river or fire, that seek to harm us. It shows us that we are going to go through some things, but He reminds us that I am the Lord thy God. Sometimes we need to be reminded that He is the Lord our God and there is nothing too hard for Him!

Isaiah tells us when you pass through the waters, He will be with you. I thought about the children of Israel passing through the Red Sea on dry ground and how the waters stood tall and at attention but did not overtake them at His Word. How the rivers won’t overflow because it cannot spread beyond the limits that He has given it. I don’t care how swift it flows or how turbulent it gets. I don’t care how deep it runs, because the Lord contains it and He controls all elements of life! Then He said when you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned. I hear God saying that the fires of life may form but they will not come near you (“no weapon formed against you shall prosper.”) and neither will a flame kindle upon thee. It won’t even begin to burn you, it certainly won’t consume you. Think about the Hebrew boys thrown in the fiery furnace that was so exceedingly hot, the scripture states even the men because of the flame of the fire were killed. That's hot! Yet, the Hebrew boys, who were bound in their clothes and hats were not burned, not one flame was on them. They weren't even singed and knowing God, they probably didn't even smell of smoke.... now that's some extraordinary mercy!

We can take comfort in knowing that God will be there no matter what this life may bring our way, no matter how how it looks (because looks can be deceiving!) the Lord is able to give extraordinary mercy to us in every and all situations that concern us. He is concerned about what we are concerned about, we must trust Him and give Him the opportunity to work on your behalf; believe Him to bring you through your circumstance. God knew that someone, including myself, needed to hear and be reminded today that when we look back over all He has brought us through, we’ll see that it was Him that we held on to. He knew that we would have lost our mind and we never would have or could have made without Him if it were not for the mercies of God that kept us!

God lets us know today that He is still in the business of blessing by His extraordinary mercy!

Until the morning, be blessed,
Cynde
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