Even to your old age, 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. — Isaiah 46:4
Reflection
Last week I shared that there was a time I prayed for certainty. I wanted God to show me the whole plan before I took the first step. I thought if I could just see a little farther ahead, I would finally have peace.
There was a season when I sensed God stirring in my heart. He was inviting me to step away from what had always felt familiar and secure into something I couldn't yet see. I prayed for clarity. I prayed for confirmation. But if I am honest… I mostly prayed for certainty.
I wanted to know where I was going before I was willing to leave where I was. I now realize God wasn't ignoring my prayer. He was answering it. Just not in the way I expected. I asked Him to show me the whole plan. Instead, He invited me to trust Him with the next step. I wanted a roadmap. He offered His hand.
Isaiah 46:4 says, Even to your old age, 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. — Isaiah 46:4
Those words changed the way I looked at my own story.
For years, I believed security came from knowing what was next. If I could plan enough, prepare enough, or anticipate every possibility, I thought I could protect myself from uncertainty. But that isn't where God was leading me. He wasn't asking me to figure everything out. He was inviting me to trust the One who already had.
For so many years, I thought I was the one carrying everything. I carried the responsibility, the pressure, the expectations, and the weight of trying to make everything work.
Looking back now, I see something completely different. I realized I had never been carrying it alone. The strength wasn’t mine. He was carrying me. I was so focused on trying to control everything that was never mine to carry. That became, not only an unbearable burden, but a chasm preventing me from letting The Holy Spirit work in me. I was too focused on carrying everything myself that I didn’t recognize what he had been doing all along. I had been taking credit for strength that was never my own. I told Him, “I am tired…. I have done enough…I have carried this as far as I can.” And I ask Him for a plan I could trust. A new path with certainty and peace. He sent me to His Word and His Word delivered me.
One morning during my devotional time, something changed. I found myself questioning, “Lord, why haven’t You given me the certainty I need?”. It was if the Holy Spirit gently reminded me, “You already have the certainty you need.”
“You have Me.”
Then I realized something that had been true all along:
He had always been carrying me.
Every answered prayer.
Every unanswered prayer.
Every closed door.
Every uncertain step.
Even when I couldn't see His hand, He never stopped carrying me.
I wanted certainty. God gave me something better.
He gave an invitation to trust Him.
And trust wasn’t another burden to carry.
It was permission to lay mine down.
When we attempt to carry the weight of the world without Him, we will crumble every time. We were never designed to carry what only God can carry. Throughout His Word, He reminds us that He is the One who sustains us, even in the ways we cannot see.
He had been carrying me all along, often in ways I never even recognized.
A Prayer
Dear God,
Thank you for answering my prayers, even when Your answer looks different than I expected. Teach me to trust You more than my own understanding and to rest in the certainty of who You are instead of the certainty I wish I had. Help me lay down every burden that was never mine to carry and faithfully take the next step You place before me.
To Dwell On This Week
Where in my life am I asking God for certainty instead of trusting Him?
What burden have I been carrying that belongs in His hands instead of mine?
Come And See
Each week we will open God’s Word together, learning what it means to abide in Christ and dwell in His peace. If today’s reflection encouraged you, I’d love for you come back next week as we continue dwelling in His Word.
May you dwell in Him.
—Rhonda, Abide & Dwell