Verse of the Day 4/28

Verse of the Day 4/28

Isaiah 26:3-4

English Standard Version

3 You keep him in perfect peace

    whose mind is stayed on you,
    because he trusts in you.
4 Trust in the Lord forever,
    for the Lord God is an everlasting rock.

My wife Jean had declared the year of 2025 to be a year of perseverance and she did right to the end and it became the same for me as I dealt with grief. At the beginning of 2026 I declared 2026 to be the year of rest for me, not one of sitting back and withdrawing, but taking more time to spend in God’s Word and in prayer and not to be pressured to have to be doing things all the time, things that in the scheme of things don’t really matter.

Reading today’s verses made me realize a key component of that rest, finding peace.  It can be found as we find our rest in Him. In Matthew 11:28 Jesus says “Come to me all you who are weary and heavy laden and you will find rest for your souls.” Finding and having that rest can bring the peace we need. The two go together.

Last September I began a BSF Bible study “Exile and Return” with a group of men.  We were asked to fill out a card and turn it in as to what we hoped for through the study and in our lives for the next few months.  The cards were handed back out last night in our final study before summer break.  I wrote: “To better understand the sense of longing in my heart for healing, restoration and promise for today and the future.  To find meaning in these difficult and challenging times.”  My hopes were realized and was greatly helped by the study and the men in the group.  The Lord also orchestrated many other things that helped me in ways that I couldn’t have imagined.  He brought someone (Cheryl) into my life and together helped navigate through this season and help bring healing, restoration and peace.

One of the last songs that I played for Jean just before she passed was “There Was Jesus”.   Yesterday, the following verses from that song came to my mind.

For this man who needs amazing kind of grace (mm)
For forgiveness at a price I couldn't pay (mm)
I'm not perfect so I thank God every day
There was Jesus (there was Jesus)

In the waiting, in the searching
In the healing and the hurting
Like a blessing buried in the broken pieces
Every minute, every moment
Where I've been and where I'm going
Even when I didn't know it or couldn't see it
There was Jesus

On the mountain, in the valleys (there was Jesus)
In the shadows of the alleys (there was Jesus)
In the fire, in the flood (there was Jesus)
Always is and always was
No, I never walk alone (never walk alone)
You are always there

All I can say to you is:

Isaiah 26:4

English Standard Version

4 Trust in the Lord forever,

    for the Lord God is an everlasting rock.

Blessings,

Mike

Folllow the Verse of the Day blog at http://mikesvotd.blogspot.com

Ephesians 1:7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace.  NIV

Isaiah 26:1-9

English Standard Version

26 In that day this song will be sung in the land of Judah:

“We have a strong city;
    he sets up salvation
    as walls and bulwarks.
2 Open the gates,
    that the righteous nation that keeps faith may enter in.
3 You keep him in perfect peace
    whose mind is stayed on you,
    because he trusts in you.
4 Trust in the Lord forever,
    for the Lord God is an everlasting rock.
5 For he has humbled
    the inhabitants of the height,
    the lofty city.
He lays it low, lays it low to the ground,
    casts it to the dust.
6 The foot tramples it,
    the feet of the poor,
    the steps of the needy.”

7 The path of the righteous is level;
    you make level the way of the righteous.
8 In the path of your judgments,
    O Lord, we wait for you;
your name and remembrance
    are the desire of our soul.
9 My soul yearns for you in the night;
    my spirit within me earnestly seeks you.
For when your judgments are in the earth,

    the inhabitants of the world learn righteousness.