A teaching by Rev. Barbara Williams, President of the Ministry of the Watchman International
Week of June 5-9, 2023
MONDAY
Behold, God is my helper;
The Lord is with those who uphold my life.
Psalm 54:4
Have you not known?
Have you not heard?
Has it not been told you from the beginning?
Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth?
It is He who sits above the circle of the earth,
And its inhabitants are like grasshoppers,
Who stretches out the heavens like a curtain,
And spreads them out like a tent to dwell in.
He brings the princes to nothing;
He makes the judges of the earth useless.
Isaiah 40:21-23
This is something to think about, for sure. I love this passage in Isaiah. “What? Haven’t you heard? This is common knowledge. We hold these truths to be self-evident.” God sits on top of the circle of the earth. The earth is His footstool. We understand that the worlds were framed by His words. The heavens declare the glory of God (Ps. 19:1) and the firmament His handiwork. Think about it: everything that God created says something great and marvelous about Him. He is a great big, awesome God. Meditate on His greatness, and you will never have a doubt about His ability to do great and marvelous things, even for us who believe upon Him. He has stretched out the heavens with His hand and given the open sky as a place for all His creatures to dwell.
Exalt the Lord, for we are truly small in His eyes. He has mercy upon us because he has created us to live for Him and depend upon Him. He does great things when we recognize who He is. Meditate on the greatness of our God today. He is a God of awesome might and strength. He is the only wise God.
If you are in need of healing, there is good news! Proverbs 4:20-22 SAYS:
My son, attend to my words; incline thine ear unto my sayings. Let them not depart from thine eyes; keep them in the midst of thine heart. For they are life unto those that find them, and health to all their flesh.
So there is life and health in God’s word. Since God’s word is medicine, we must take it like we would a prescription. I suggest three times a day, like you would your food. Remember, healing is the children’s bread. Consider this your “dose” for today. Remember, read, and meditate three times a day the following:
Rx: Isaiah 40:29-31 ~ He gives power to the weak, and to those who have no might He increases strength. Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall, but those who wait on the Lord Shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.
“Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.”
2 Timothy 2:15
If you’ve never studied the Bible from Genesis to Revelation, we invite you to join us as we read through the Bible in a year. Read and meditate on these chapters this week:
June 5: Deuteronomy 9, Psalms 92-93, Isaiah 37, Revelation 7
June 6: Deuteronomy 10, Psalms 94, Isaiah 38, Revelation 8
June 7: Deuteronomy 11, Psalms 95-96, Isaiah 39, Revelation 9
June 8: Deuteronomy 12, Psalms 97-98, Isaiah 40, Revelation 10
June 9: Deuteronomy 13-14, Psalms 99-101, Isaiah 41, Revelation 11
June 10: Deuteronomy 15, Psalms 102, Isaiah 42, Revelation 12
June 11: Deuteronomy 16, Psalms 103, Isaiah 43, Revelation 13
TUESDAY
He brings the princes to nothing;
He makes the judges of the earth useless.
Scarcely shall they be planted,
Scarcely shall they be sown,
Scarcely shall their stock take root in the earth,
When He will also blow on them,
And they will wither,
And the whirlwind will take them away like stubble.
Isaiah 40:23-24
The strength of man is quite useless in comparison to our God. He brings the Princes of the earth to nought. Remember King Nebuchadnezzar? Remember Pharaoh? They found themselves suddenly cut off, even while boasting in their power. Every power that exalts itself against the knowledge of God will be brought low. God judges the earth. He is a holy God, as well as all powerful. He will not abide sin forever. When the cup of iniquity is full in a person’s life, God the Righteous steps in and judges. When righteousness is established, His reward comes to the just. We should never fear what those in the world are doing. We should never be ashamed to speak up for righteousness when in the company of the wicked. We should be honored to declare the righteousness of our God in the midst of wicked situations.
One former U.S. president was accused of immorality. He was suspected of misusing the power of his office. When confronted, he lied. Many times those in authority overestimate their power. When questioned further, He admitted a little more. He was confronted during impeachment proceedings. Many people said, “Character is not important.” But what does God say? Many pointed to the sins of past presidents to justify their lack of concern for the moral climate among our leaders. But God, the Righteous, still exposes sin. This has given the people an opportunity to choose. Sin is a reproach to any people. The judges of the earth are useless in the face of God, the Righteous.
WEDNESDAY
Scarcely shall they be planted,
Scarcely shall they be sown,
Scarcely shall their stock take root in the earth,
When He will also blow on them,
And they will wither,
And the whirlwind will take them away like stubble.
“To whom then will you liken Me,
Or to whom shall I be equal?” says the Holy One.
Lift up your eyes on high,
And see who has created these things,
Who brings out their host by number;
He calls them all by name,
By the greatness of His might
And the strength of His power;
Not one is missing.
Isaiah 40:24-26
Many times the wicked who are in power conceive vain plans. They begin to move against the will of God and the righteousness of God. They scarcely get a plan started before God blows it down. It disappears into the air as does the chaff when it is separated from the wheat. Before their plans are even allowed to take root, God blows them away. Remember this, believer. When you are in the workplace, especially, you may see the wicked devise their wicked plots. Remember Haman? He couldn’t stand the fact that Mordecai refused to bow to him at the gate. Does anybody have a boss who is on a power trip? He likes to belittle everybody, and waits until there is a staff meeting to do it? Remember that guy? He’s history. Oh, he owns the company? Well, get ready for a transfer, because that company will not prosper under the leadership of a wicked man.
God does this because He created all things. His aim is for righteousness to prevail, and He will not lose. God accounts for everything that He has created. He will never allow the unrighteous to prevail.
THURSDAY
Why do you say, O Jacob,
And speak, O Israel:
“My way is hidden from the Lord,
And my just claim is passed over by my God”?
Have you not known?
Have you not heard?
The everlasting God, the Lord,
The Creator of the ends of the earth,
Neither faints nor is weary.
His understanding is unsearchable.
Isaiah 40:27-28
Are you waiting to see the goodness of God? Are you waiting to see righteousness in a situation? During these times we may be tempted to say that God has forgotten us; that we have been passed over. Perhaps we think that God has forgotten how to get to us. Sometimes we have veered so far from the right path that we think God cannot find us. David felt like that from time to time. He finally concluded that there was not one place that he could go and hide from the Lord. The Almighty God knows everything. He even knows where to find us when we have lost our way. There may be times when we do not wish to be found by God. We hope that He will never see what we have done, what a mess we have made of our lives, or how we have allowed ourselves to get back into the same mess again. We often don’t know how to help ourselves. We feel that we should give up in hopelessness and fatigue.
It is at these times that we need to know that our God is never tired nor weary. When we are out of ideas, He has more, because His understanding is unsearchable. That means that we cannot figure Him out, we can only obey His commands. We will not understand as He does, but we may benefit from His understanding. He never faints, never gives up, and He knows where we all are at all times.
FRIDAY
He gives power to the weak,
And to those who have no might He increases strength.
Even the youths shall faint and be weary,
And the young men shall utterly fall,
But those who wait on the Lord
Shall renew their strength;
They shall mount up with wings like eagles,
They shall run and not be weary,
They shall walk and not faint.
Isaiah 40:29-31
God’s answer when we feel like giving up is to give us His power. We must turn to Him and know that He will come for us. He is our strength, our rescuer and deliverer. We can fully trust in His confidence. When God comes to give us our reward, He brings power with Him.
God’s power is revitalizing. When we wait upon the Lord, we get fresh strength. We can spread our wings and soar like eagles! We run without getting tired, and walk without lagging behind. When we put our trust in Him, our path always grows brighter and brighter (Proverbs 4:18).
It is the same power that sustained Caleb to claim his mountain at his old age. “And now, behold, the Lord has kept me alive… and now, here I am this day, eighty-five years old. As yet I am as strong this day as on the day that Moses sent me; just as my strength was then, so now is my strength for war, both for going out and for coming in. Now therefore, give me this mountain…” (Joshua 14:10-12). This is supernatural strength that is only found dwelling in the Secret Place of the Most High.
Young men may be strong, but do they have the wisdom and experience of the old? God is able to combine the wisdom of age with the strength of youth, but it comes only to those who lay down their own natural strength and take up the supernatural strength of God. You must fully trust Him when you lay down your strength.
This is the key: total trust in the Lord your Helper. When God is your help, you will be directed in the right way and given the strength, wisdom, knowledge, and even all the human help that you need. Wait upon the Lord your Helper. He gives power to the faint, and to them that have no might, He increases strength.