We’re entering a section of Isaiah that’s a virtual highlight reel of promises and insights into the God who cares about us. Yesterday’s snippets from Isaiah 40 ended with a verse many of us have memorized:

But they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint. (Isaiah 40.31, ESV)

Isaiah 41 continues the theme with this gem, again, something many of us have memorized:

Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. (Isaiah 41.10, ESV)

My friend Ray Bandi, whom I mention from time to time, had a stroke in 2016. He still suffers from aphasia, the inability to call up a word he wants to use in a sentence. But in the early days after the stroke, it was worse. He displayed a phenomenon that I think could get him into textbooks. He would want to comfort his wife with the words above: “Fear not, for I am with you…I will strengthen you, I will help you…” But he couldn’t call up the words, so he would say to her, “Look up Isaiah 41.10.” He knew what was in the verse even though he couldn’t speak it, but he could speak the reference! There’s as good a reason as any for a robust scripture memory program.

Isaiah 41 continues:

For I, the LORD your God, hold your right hand; it is I who say to you, “Fear not, I am the one who helps you.” Fear not, you worm Jacob, you men of Israel! I am the one who helps you, declares the LORD; your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel. (Isaiah 41.13, 14, ESV)

And there’s the now familiar diatribe against idols at the end:

Behold, you are nothing, and your work is less than nothing; an abomination is he who chooses you…Behold, they are all a delusion; their works are nothing; their metal images are empty wind. (Isaiah 41.24, 29, ESV)

Little children, keep yourselves from idols. (1 John 5.21, ESV)

For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. (2 Timothy 1.7, NKJV)