"For the mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed; but my kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed, saith the Lord that hath mercy on thee."
Isaiah 54:10
There is a lot of good stuff in this chapter, but this one verse stood out to me today. I like the juxtaposition of the cataclysmic loss of geologic features of the Earth being compared to God's covenant with us of kindness, peace, and mercy. I think it reflects what things are like for us in our lives in general. Hopefully our daily cataclysms are smaller... and not quite cataclysms. But they feel so sometimes. The upheaval of our lives is sometimes as emotionally and physically devastating as it would be physically to be in a serious earthquake... we're left alive, but shocked at the destruction, and it takes us a long time to process and to pick up the pieces. Even worse when we caused it ourselves, burning our bridges as it were, and setting fire to our own houses in the process. At first it is fun to watch it all burn, but then we begin to realize what we've lost.
No matter the cataclysms though, God's kindness will not depart from us. His covenant of peace is still offered to us, and he will still be merciful. He loves us. He is our father. ... Now, of course this doesn't give us a free pass to rob and murder and destroy and just present our get out of jail free card at the pearly gates. Our side of the covenant/agreement with God is repentance and obedience. We still have to learn to love peace and do the things that lead to it before we can have it in our lives... but God will never withdraw the agreement, no matter how many times we break it, as long as we are alive and there is even a tiny chance that we will turn around and realize that it really is what we want. Today, let's embrace God's great mercy and kindness, and despite the cataclysms of the day, look to him for stability and peace.
Praise God for His Word is faithful and true. How amazing it is that we serve a God that cannot lie. In spite of our imperfections, His promises are always perfect and like His love, they are unconditional. We should never forget to or be too tired to give God praise.
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