BLESSINGS FOR OLDER SINGLE
WOMEN
I thought I’d be married
and have children by the time I was 25. By the time I was 35 I realized I might
not be getting married at all—the guys I liked, didn’t like me; the guys who
liked me, I didn’t like. So I determined to be happy being single. Then the
Lord directed me to Isaiah 54 and showed me the scriptures to take into my
heart that would be my “go to” scriptures ever since. If you or anyone you know
is an older woman and single, don’t despair, the Lord has provided tremendous
blessings for us. Even
though these passages are Old Testament, Romans 15:4 tells us we should learn
from them: “For whatsoever
things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and
comfort of the scriptures might have hope.
Here’s the section of scripture
that the Lord gave me:
“Sing,
O barren, thou that didst not bear; break forth into singing, and cry aloud,
thou that didst not travail with child: for more are the children of the
desolate than the children of the married wife, saith the Lord” (Is. 54:1). A
husband, children, then grandchildren, are a priority to women who have their
own families, but single women can take on spiritual children, in prayer and I
find that is true in my writing, as well.
“Enlarge the place of thy tent, and let them stretch forth the
curtains of thine habitations: spare not, lengthen thy cords, and strengthen
thy stakes; For thou shalt break forth on the right hand and on the left; and
thy seed shall inherit the Gentiles, and make the desolate cities to be
inhabited. Fear not; for thou shalt not be ashamed: neither be thou confounded;
for thou shalt not be put to shame: for thou shalt forget the shame of thy
youth, and shalt not remember the reproach of thy widowhood any more” (vv.2-4).
Now
this is amazing:
“For
thy Maker is thine husband; the Lord of hosts is his name; and thy Redeemer the
Holy One of Israel; The God of the whole earth shall he be called” (v.5). It
doesn’t get much better than that!
If
you take the time to look up “the Lord of Hosts” in a Concordance, it is the same
as the Lord of Sabaoth. In this aspect, God is the powerful leader and chief of
all the angels (hosts), including the warring angels, the prosperity angels,
the protecting angels, all of them.
The
Lord of Hosts is also the commander and chief of all creation, all the elements
that make up the earth, and that make up our physical bodies. All the laws of
physics, chemistry, microbiology, all of that is under His direction. It is the
Lord of Sabaoth who brings the elements together for miraculous healings. He is
the one who created those things and He orchestrates, directs and pulls
together what is needed in any situation. He is the mighty fixer.
In
the New Testament, James 5:4 tells us the Lord of Sabaoth is the one who makes
sure the rightful payment for work we do, gets to us: “Behold, the hire of the labourers who have reaped
down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth: and the cries of
them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth.” You do not want to mess with
the Lord of Sabaoth.
It is the Lord of
Sabaoth who caused the utter destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. “And as Esaias
said before, ‘Except the Lord of Sabaoth
had left us a seed, we had been as Sodom, and been made like unto Gomorrah’”
(Rom. 9:29).
But the other
side of the Lord of Sabaoth is His extreme kindness. His fire and His might is
extreme, but so is His kindness. His mercy rescued Lot and his family, even
though they had compromised on His Word and were living by choice in an evil
place and by evil ways. God sent his angels to bring Lot out of Sodom before
the destruction hit it.
The name for God,
as the Lord of Hosts, is the one He chose to use here in Isaiah. “For thy Maker is thine husband;
the Lord of hosts is his name; and thy Redeemer the Holy One of Israel; The God
of the whole earth shall he be called.”
So what else does
the Lord have to say on the subject?
“For
the Lord hath called thee as a woman forsaken and grieved in spirit, and a wife
of youth, when thou wast refused, saith thy God” (v.6). This part is a little
hurtful, but not to worry.
“For
a small moment have I forsaken thee; but with great mercies will I gather thee.
In a little wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment; but with everlasting
kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith the Lord thy Redeemer” (vv.7-8).
The
next few verses have some great things to say too, some that I understand and some
that I don’t, but I want to go on to the last four scriptures.
“In
righteousness shalt thou be established: thou shalt be far from oppression; for
thou shalt not fear: and from terror; for it shall not come near thee” (v.14).
What a great promise, right?
“Behold,
they shall surely gather together, but not by me: whosoever shall gather
together against thee shall fall for thy sake. Behold, I have created the smith
that bloweth the coals in the fire, and that bringeth forth an instrument for
his work; and I have created the waster to destroy” (vv.15-16). The Lord of
Sabaoth will not let anyone hurt us. This is an awesome scripture to take hold
of and believe with all our hearts!
And
the last verse of Isaiah 54 is monumental: “No weapon that is formed against
thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment
thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their
righteousness is of me, saith the Lord” (v. 17).
Don’t
fret or be sorry you older single women. Our God has prepared an amazingly
wonderful life, hand-crafted just for us. We are not forsaken, but chosen and
favored.
Love,
Carolyn
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