By: Vernica Williams
During challenging seasons, it can feel like you are holding on for dear life. You are on the edge of your seat. One side of the seat you are waiting for the chair to flip over, the other side of the seat is Jesus sitting on the edge with you holding down the weight to keep you steady. “God where are you?” is a common cry I can only imagine God hears very often, possibly just as often, we miss His response, “Fear not, I am with you.”
“Fear not, for I am with you; Be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, Yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.” ~Isaiah 41:10
God spoke “Fear not, I am with you” 53 times in the Bible! That tells you and I God knows there will be challenges in life and you will not go through it alone. Have you ever experienced a blessing that came at the right time? Or you thought something not so good was going to happen and God showed up with mercy and intercepted that huge concern away from your grasp? Me too! What I am incorporating with core faith is building an altar in the space where God proved, “I am with you.”
In the book of Genesis chapter 22, Abram with his son Isaac (whom God told Abram to offer as a sacrifice) built and altar to lay the boy on. It reads, “Abram built the altar there and laid the wood in order and bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood” {Genesis 22:9}. If you know the story, as Abram was about to sacrifice Isaac, God sent an angel to tell Abram, “Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me” { Genesis 22:12}. What began as an altar of sacrifice became the Altar of Provision!
In Exodus chapter 17, Israel was at war with Amalek. The fight was so long and brutal that
Moses needed help to hold up the staff of God in his hand, “Whenever Moses held up his hand, Israel prevailed, and whenever he lowered his hand, Amalek prevailed”{Exodus 17:11}. As the fight continued the Lord said, “…, “Write this as a memorial in a book and recite it in the ears of Joshua, that I will utterly blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven”{Exodus 17:14}. As Moses stood high on the mountain He built an altar, “And Moses built an altar and called the name of it, The LORD Is My Banner, saying, “A hand upon the throne of the LORD! The LORD will have war with Amalek from generation to generation” {Exodus 17:15-16}.
Let me not forget Jacob in Genesis chapter 35, “Jacob built an altar there and named the place El-bethel (which means “God of Bethel”), because God had appeared to him there when he was fleeing from his brother, Esau” {Genesis 35:7}.
I deeply want you to know as you are going through life with God and as He continues to show Himself faithful to who He is (the Word), take a moment to build an altar in the same spot the Lord manifested his character to you as merciful, as provider, as defender…whatever the reason you were sitting on the edge of your seat, you worship God! Acknowledge His strength in your weakness and His All-Sufficiency in your lack. Every altar you build will be a reminder of what the Lord done in the past. So, the next time when you are tempted to say, “God where are you?”, you will say with boldness and conviction, “I will not fear, you are with me!”
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About The Author:
Vernica Williams, MSW is the founder of ReClaiming Your Voice, a life coaching practice from a therapeutic and Biblical perspective and ministry that offers written, audio and video messages of encouragement through the word of God. Vernica specializes in core values development, issues rooted in rejection, people pleasing and emotional abuse.
She is the author of “Prayerful Affirmations: 21 Biblical Affirmations to Bring You Closer to God and Increase Your Faith, and the host and producer of the RYV Podcast and YouTube channel.
Vernica uses her history of trauma to point women to Jesus and to let them know no matter the pain life will bring; you too can reclaim your voice in God. To contact Vernica you can email her at info@reclaimingurvoice.com and learn more about RYV at reclaimingurvoice.com.