Care Instructions

I have cared for you since you were born. Yes, I carried you before you were born. I will be your God throughout your lifetime—until your hair is white with age. I made you, and I will care for you. I will carry you along and save you. (Isaiah 46:3-4)

We all have those moments when we are just incapable of holding up any longer - we need someone to care for us because we have given all we can manage, needing God's help to make it any further. This is not a bad thing to realize - we all need him to carry us through. We might struggle through out of sheer bullheadedness, but if you have tried that one, you know just how overwhelming the experience really is. If you look into my life, you will find that I have done things under my own willpower and self-effort on occasion, but things never ended up being as good as they could have been if I would have just let God help me with it.

Who better to care for us than the one who actually made us? He knows how we will approach the issue at hand, right down to how we will perceive it - as a threat or a blessing. He knows what sends us hurdling down a rocky path and what keeps us on the straight and narrow. To put it in pretty plain vernacular - he knows what makes us tick. It should give us some encouragement to know he will care for us all the days of our lives - from the time we are conceived till the day we breathe our last - then on into eternity with him. 

Look again at our passage - he will carry you along. That doesn't leave any room for stagnation in our walk, does it? Maybe when we 'lack propulsion' in our walk we need a gentle nudge from him to get us going again. The need to be 'carried' doesn't indicate weakness - it shows our dependence upon him. We might not even realize he is carrying us at some points, but as we look back at where we were, what we went through, and where we stand today, we might just see his 'carrying' more than we realized while 'going through' whatever it was.

God doesn't make a show about carrying us. He often does it without us even being aware his hands have bolstered us, lifting us when we were about to fall, and protecting us from things unseen that could have harmed us if we stumbled into them without his care. He made us - he will care for us. If you are feeling a bit like no one is on your side today, take heart. God may not always 'feel present', but he is always present. As they say it in theological terms, he is 'omnipresent'. He is also 'omniscient' - all-knowing. Whatever you are going through today, he knows your circumstances, has made a way through them, and will be right there to take that weight upon his shoulders. You just need to give it over to him and allow him to carry it (and you) through. Just sayin!