![[Photo of a Scripture verse]](https://www.deankwilson.com/Blog_images/Isaiah_46_1-3.jpg)
| “God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging.” |
| —Isaiah 46:1-3 |
Some say that dads take more risks with their children than moms do. I don’t know whether that is generally true, or not. But, in my case, my dad certainly took chances with me that my mom would have shuddered at.
When I was about five or six, my dad built a small addition to our modest home. It was an extension of the kitchen and provided an eating area, more like a breakfast nook. Since there were only three of us, it served us nicely.
The addition had a basement that connected with the original basement of the house. It also had a back door that allowed someone to enter the house from the rear yard and from the detached single car garage.
One night, while my mom was at a church meeting, dad was laboring on the addition in the new basement and I sat at the opening on the first floor watching him. After a while, he asked me if I wanted to come down and look around. At this point there was no stairs, just a ladder. I was afraid to climb down the ladder, so my dad told me to jump and he would catch me.
I stood looking down for what seemed like a very long time. All the while, my dad kept encouraging me to jump. “I won’t drop you, Pal,” he said.
Finally, I closed my eyes and jumped. And, my dad did exactly what he said he would do. He caught me, set me gently on the cement floor, and invited me to look around the basement, a place I had never explored.
My dad took a chance. But, he did so knowing that he was capable of delivering what he had promised. I took a chance, too. But, in doing so, I had confidence that what my dad told me was trustworthy.
In our spiritual lives, God, as our loving Father, will often set us on a course that challenges us and causes us to stretch a bit. He does this to move us forward in our spiritual formation. He promises to care for us, if we would only trust him.
This is the very message that the Prophet Isaiah conveyed to the southern kingdom of Judah, when he made this declaration, found in Isaiah 46:1-3:
God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging.
Because God is our refuge—our hiding place—and the One who gives us divine strength, we can move forward, without fear, along the pathway He has placed before us. That’s something we should keep in mind as we begin another new day. We can always trust God to care for us in an exciting and life-giving way.
