Dredging

Isaiah 54:17 – No weapon that is fashioned against you shall succeed, and you shall confute every tongue that rises against you in judgment. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord and their vindication from me, declares the Lord. (ESV)

Things in my work world are constantly in a state of flux. We restructure year on year on year. My managers fret when I confirm that I am able to do what they ask but that I am unwilling to comply without some form of personal recognition. Consequently, I have been undergoing a time of coercion, confrontation, and personal apprehension. However, I know that my Saviour has been with me during my times of angst because He has granted me both the strength to speak and His peace — as I allow it in. Someone sent to me today's verse from Isaiah, and I draw encouragement from the knowledge that my Saviour is watching and sustaining me.

Recently, those I have known and worked with have retired or moved on to greater opportunities. Sadly, what the future holds for me no one really knows. I am not a brave soul, so I find today's word from Isaiah does not sit easily with me. I have shared it, because I would guess that many will have their own tales to tell of personal apprehensions.

As I walked by a nearby lake to cast my cares upon my Saviour, there was a large digger floating on a barge. It was dredging up the silt and filling a large barge receptacle — almost to the point of sinking. This unusual event made me reflect on what was being hinted at from above.

Like the dredger using a bucket to scoop out silt one scoop at a time, God can daily remove all our sins as we confess them one day at a time. On the cross, Jesus filled Himself with our sins past the point of sinking, but he was "refloated" in victory over sin and death. Now God wants to dredge up all of the worldly passion, fears, and desires of the heart, soul, and mind, which have infiltrated our beings from various sources. If we let Him, He will take this worldly silt away and leave us deeper containers, with more space to receive His love and peace. We may not like today, but His grace is sufficient.

Prayer: Lord, we thank You for meeting with us again today. Grant us Your grace and peace. Take away our sins of the world, and fill us once more with Your life-giving light and hope. We rejoice that we can trust You with all our cares because You are unable to be unfaithful with our lives. Lord, heal our lives, because we ask it in the name of Jesus. Amen.

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