I am He who will Sustain You

Isaiah 46: 3-4 -New International Version-

"Listen to me...you whom I have upheld since you were conceived, and have carried since your birth. Even to your old age and gray hairs, I am he, I am he who will sustain you. I have made you and I will carry you; I will sustain you and I will rescue you."

I am no theologian. I am not informed on the Hebrew language and its direct translation into English. Therefore, I cannot provide a thorough explication of the verse above. I can, however, interpret its implications in English, and in so doing, I have been liberated in my own personal studies this morning.

I would like to place particular emphasis on the word sustain, as used in this passage. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the verb sustain means "to strengthen or support physically or mentally," "to cause to continue or be prolonged for an extended period or without interruption," and "to represent convincingly, or to bear (the weight of an object) without breaking or falling."

I find that in my own life, I amble along, teetering and tottering beneath the weight of the amassing pressure I heap upon my own shoulders. I stumble and I cringe beneath the encumbrance which mushrooms over me, compressing my feeble body lower to the earth below me. What causes this mass to dominate me? Surely not God! Rather, my own stubborn efforts to bear the burden unassisted is the very force that inhales stale air into the ballooning load above me. Yet, this is not necessary--not at all! Because God has already promised to sustain me. He has promised to strengthen and support me, and he has promised to bear the weight of my burden, and he is more than capable of doing so without breaking or falling.

The awareness of God's presence in my time of anxiety is heartening. The realization that I do not have to force circumstances in order to support myself is exceedingly encouraging because the reality is that I do not have control over all of my affairs. But I do not need control when God is pulling the reigns. He is he who will sustain me. He has made me and he will carry me; he will sustain me and he will rescue me.