Finding Comfort in Uncertain Times

Well, isn’t the news depressing at the moment! I find I am drawn to it, like a moth to a flame, with a sort of horrible fascination, wondering which world leader will have done something stupid today. There is a lot going on, and it can feel rather unsettling. However, today I read a few verses that reminded me to keep everything in context, not to get carried away by the stressy-gossipy-conspiracy of the whole thing—especially some of the things being posted on social media.

Now, I am taking these verses (Isaiah 8) completely out of context, and I am applying them in a way that was not at all how the original author expected them to be applied, and I am ignoring all the verses before and after. Usually I would think this was a slightly dodgy way to use Scripture, but I think, if I am only applying it to myself, and not using it to teach/correct other people, then it’s okay. (Sometimes the writers of the New Testament did the same thing.) I think sometimes a few verses might apply directly to the reader (me) and that is how Scripture ‘speaks’ today. So, with the health warning that I am not trying to teach anything from these out-of-context words, which you can apply however you feel is appropriate, this is what I read this morning: