All my Comfort

Last night I became one of those people that stayed up to see the results. I know, I went back on what I said. I first began to view the results at around 10pm on my Yahoo Political Dashboard, and couldn't walk away after that. Oh, those electoral votes got me. I saw the deep need for prayer, and began to pray hard. And continuously. I was expecting Obama to win, but I was still as shocked as if someone had hit me in the gut that he won. I was stunned. 338 electoral votes. 338. Even thought the votes were not all in, Obama had won, not McCain, and our country now had elected her most liberal president ever to govern her. Mom, Dad and I just sat in front of the pc going back and forth from the map to the incoming votes, in silence we viewed the information. And wondered what was coming next. (For those of you who voted for Obama, this is not an attack on any of you, I love you, I am merely describing what I felt like last night) I sat in front of the computer shaking my head. Wondering how I can ever respect our 44th president, wondering what America will be like in the next 4 years. Wondering how God will use this for His glory. How He will use me.

A friend mentioned she was in mourning for lives that would be lost in babies, and I began to cry and pray that somehow we would not put those laws in place. I began to cry for America. Our lost country who put their loves in men and idols that can never satisfy, and despise our Savior. Call me ridiculous and dramatic if you will, but my world crumbled a bit last night. I felt like it was, and I think it shook me up in a good way. Sobered me to sin. Sobered me before God. Sobered me to the fear of the Lord. And broke me down. I know I am being vulnerable here, but it is important to me to tell you all, because maybe you will be sobered too. Being broken in God is a deep valley, and the highest of highs when you can wholly rely on Him alone for comfort. That's what last night was for me. Whole surrender to my Lord in desperation for comfort. I was desperate for His Words like rain to a cracked and parched soil, gasping for relief. I paced my bedroom with my Bible in hand, and turned to Isaiah 51.

Isaiah 51:1-16
The Lord Comforts Zion

"Listen to Me, you who follow after righteousness,
You who seek the Lord:
Look to the rock from which you were hewn,
And to the hole of the pit from which you were dug.
Look to Abraham your father,
And to Sarah who bore you;
For I called him alone,
And blessed him and increased him."

For the Lord will comfort Zion,
He will comfort all her waste places;
He will make her wilderness like Eden,
And her desert like the garden of the Lord;
Joy and gladness will be found in it,
Thanksgiving and the voice of melody.

"Listen to Me, My people;
And give ear to Me, O My nation:
For law will proceed from Me,
And I will make My justice rest
As a light of the peoples.
My righteousness is near,
My salvation has gone forth,
And My arms will judge the peoples;
The coastlands will wait upon Me,
And on my arm they will trust.
Lift up your eyes to the heavens,
And look on the earth beneath.
For the heavens will vanish away like smoke,
The earth will grow old like a garment,
And those who dwell in it will die in like manner;
But My salvation will be forever,
And My righteousness will not be abolished.

Listen to Me, you who know righteousness,
You people in whose heart is My law;
Do not fear the reproach of men,
Nor be afraid of their insults.
For the moth will eat them up like a garment,
And the worm will eat them like wool;
But my righteousness will be forever,
And My salvation from generation to generation."

Awake, awake, put on strength,
O arm of the Lord!
Awake as in the ancient days,
in the generations of old. Are You not the arm that cut Rahab apart, And wounded the serpent?
Are You not the One who dried up the sea,
The waters of the great deep;
that made the depths of the sea a road
For the redeemed to cross over?
So the ransomed of the Lord shall return,
And come to Zion with singing,
With everlasting joy on their heads.
They shall obtain joy and gladness;
Sorrow and sighing shall flee away.

"I, even I, am He who comforts you.
Who are you that you should be afraid
Of a man who will die,
And of the son of a man who will be made like grass?
And you forget the Lord your Maker,
Who stretched out the heavens
And laid the foundations of the earth;
You have feared continually every day
Because of the fury of the oppressor,
When he has prepared to destroy.
And where is the fury of the oppressor?
The captive exile hastens,
that he may be loosed,
That he should not die in the pit,
And that his bread should not fail.
But I am the Lord your God,
Who divided the sea whose waves roared-
The Lord of hosts is His name.
And I have put My words in your mouth;
I have covered you with the shadow of My hand,
That I may plant the heavens,
Lay the foundations of the earth,
And say to Zion, 'You are My people.' "

(repeated for emphasis by me) "I, even I, am He who comforts you. Who are you that you should be afraid of a man who will die. And of the son of a man who will be made like grass? And you forget the Lord your Maker, Who stretched out the heavens And laid out the foundations of the earth."

And I was comforted. My weeping turned to soft tears of gentle trust. My hopeless heart turned to hope in One Who would never let me down. He Who covers me with the shadow of His hand, and calls me His child. My broken heart was soothed with His quiet love, His sweet touch of peace...His infallible Word of truth. I was broken and battered, and covered with His love.

Quietly trusting in my Savior, I am - Jean Marie 

P.S. That very same friend who was mourning last night also spent a good 20 minutes talking with me on Facebook, listening to me, loving on me, calming me down, comforting me, and most importantly, making me see Who I really should be trusting in for everything, and leaning on. She was love exemplified last night. Thank you, dear friend. You know who you are.