I Will Not Throw You Away – GS3

Scripture: Isaiah 41:8-10

8 “But as for you, Israel my servant, Jacob my chosen one, descended from Abraham my friend, 9 I have called you back from the ends of the earth so you can serve me. For I have chosen you and will not throw you away. 10 Don’t be afraid, for I am with you. Don’t be discouraged, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you. I will hold you up with my victorious right hand. (Isaiah 41:8-10 NLT)

Coming back to the US at the end of 1999 after nearly two decades of serving overseas, seemed like leaving everything we’d done that was valuable and worthwhile and coming back to a place where we were unneeded outsiders. There were times we just wanted to run away back to London or East Africa where we knew we were needed and had something to offer. The needs were so great where we had been serving and it seemed that back here in the US, churches had so much going on and had so many resources, we wondered if we had anything to offer at all. In that season this scripture encouraged us, and we chose to believe it was God speaking specifically to us. We chose to believe that God still had a purpose for us, that he had “chosen us and would not throw us away.”

During the first year after leaving the UK, we returned to Jamaica, London, and Uganda to share our Foundation For Christian Service course material for lay-leadership training. Then, a year to the day after we left our schools in London, Pastor Ken Johnson of Westside Church in Bend, OR called asking me to join the church staff, leading Discipleship and Pastoral Care. For the next few years, Jean and I had the opportunity to serve Westside Church, and to assist churches across much of Oregon and part of Idaho, in many of the same towns where we had worked with Jesus People ministries 30 years earlier. God’s Word to us was true and is still bearing fruit today as we continue to serve churches throughout Central Oregon.

Now I’m writing this after another two decades of fruitful ministry. God’s Word is true and his purpose will be fulfilled. But again, this is not a passive thing where we can simply “claim a promise” and idly wait for it to happen. It’s a matter of believing what God says is true and keeping our hearts in tune and our hands busy doing what we find to do. And leaving the outcome in God’s hands.

Prayer:

Father, Today I thank you that you are the God Who Speaks! Thanks for speaking life-giving words of encouragement to Jean and me through the years. Today I pray for my friends who are reading this that you will be for them the God Who Speaks. May their ears be open and their hearts tuned to hear your voice in their time of need! Amen!