But God will remove the cloud of doom
Isaiah 25:7-9 God will remove the cloud of doom, the shadow of death that hangs over the earth. He will swallow up death forever! The Sovereign Lord will wipe away all tears. … In that day the people will proclaim, “This is our God! We trusted in him, and he saved us! Let us rejoice in the salvation he brings.”
Psalm 68:5 Father to the fatherless, defender of widows—this is God, whose dwelling is holy. God places the lonely in families; he sets the prisoners free and gives them joy.
Revelation 21:4 God himself will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain.
To my surprise, when I walked into church yesterday, Josh was singing “Rock of Ages”! It had nothing to do with my last post–except for me. Josh chose the song based on Isaiah 51:1 and Matthew 16:18. You can listen to Kevin’s challenging sermon on those passages here. You might need to give Wes a day or two to post it.
But I felt chills. I don’t remember hearing that hymn sung in our church. It seemed God was saying back to me, “Remember what you just posted? You, Debbie, too easily forget the Rock who can hide you.”
On my mind was the strong sense that God wanted me to write something very difficult into Book 3, Facing the Faeries 1906, something I will weep over, in my emotional attachment to my characters. And for which I fear criticism and negative pushback. I need to write it this week–my personal little “cloud of doom.”
Shutterstock: Undrey
I took my dilemma to a prayer team. They understood that my challenge is to trust—to trust that God sets prisoners free and gives them joy—even the characters in this book to whom I am inordinately attached. Even me. This is what he does. God reminded me of my “year verse”: Be truly glad. There is wonderful joy ahead, even though you have to endure many trials for a little while (1 Peter 1:6).
As you and I head into the challenges of this new week, let’s take a few minutes to reaffirm our trust in the Lord, and rejoice! Here are three artists to help us, each inspired by Isaiah’s words, “This is our God”:
Debra Kornfield 