To Encourage You

Isaiah 49:16 “. . . your walls are continually before me.”

Have you ever felt all alone?  Have you ever gone through something that, although there may have people around you, you were certain that none of them could understand what you were going through, and any attempt to explain it to them seemed futile? Perhaps you’re in such a situation right now. It’s just this condition that came to my mind as I read the obscure portion of Scripture above.  I know I’ve read this verse before, but I don’t remember doing so.  Yet, there it is: “your walls are continually before me.”  So, what is this referring to? What’s the point of this statement? 

Well, like all Scripture, it has a context that is all important.  You see, one of the things that Isaiah is talking about here is the destruction of Jerusalem.  Because of the continual sin of the nation of Israel and its kings, destruction was coming upon them.  The nation would go into captivity, the great city of Jerusalem would be destroyed, and the walls of the city would be torn down.   Isaiah 49 contains this lament from the nation of Israel: “But Zion said, ‘The Lord has forsaken me; my Lord has forgotten me.’”  So, have you ever felt like that?  Have you ever felt like God was nowhere to be found, that you were so alone and in such misery that even God Himself had abandoned you?  I know I have. In fact, many people have – even Jesus, for you may recall these words that He cried from the cross: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken Me?!” 

But had God forsaken Jesus?  Well, in one sense, yes, for Jesus, at that moment, was bearing the curse for all the sin of mankind. But on the other hand, surely not, for God would never abandon His own child.  Nor would he abandon Israel. Listen to God’s full response to Isaiah’s lament, of which the verse above is only a part: “Can a woman forget her nursing child, that she should have no compassion on the son of her womb? Even these may forget, yet I will not forget you. Behold, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands; your walls are continually before me.”

So, in context, “your walls” referred to the devastated walls of a destroyed Jerusalem.  It was these walls, where all seemed lost and Israel felt abandoned, that God assured them “your walls are ever before me.” In other words, I see your misery.  I am fully aware of your horrible condition, but know that I have not abandoned you. Even in this I have a purpose, and in my time, I will restore you. 

This reminded me of the account of Hagar in the Old Testament.  Hagar was the handmaid of Sarah, Abraham’s wife.  God had promised Abraham a son. As time passed it seemed like this promise would never be fulfilled because both Abraham and Sarah were well past their natural child-bearing years.  So, they took it upon themselves to devise a foolish plan.  They decided that Abraham would lie with Hagar, who was much younger, and have a son that way. But that wasn’t God’s plan, and when Hagar did become pregnant, Sarah became jealous and forced her to leave. Abandoned in the wilderness and in great distress, the angel of the Lord came to her and promised her that she would have a son.  He said “You shall call his name Ishmael, because the Lord has listened to your affliction.” He also promised her that her offspring would be multiplied so that they could not be numbered.  “So she called the name of the Lord who spoke to her, ‘You are a God of seeing,’ for she said, ‘Truly here I have seen Him who looks after me’” (Genesis 16:13). 

It’s all the same message. No matter how alone we may feel, no matter how hopeless our situation, no matter if we are as desolate as Israel, or Hagar, or Jesus, God’s word to us is the same “your walls are ever before me.”  In other words, He sees our affliction. He knows everything about our situation. And no matter how things look to His children, His presence and His love are still certain for He is the God Who sees.

May the Lord help us to cling to Him in the difficult times, and may He help us to always be able to say, “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me” (Psalm 23:4), for that’s the absolute truth, no matter how things might seem.