The Bible in a Year podcast is a gem for me. Like most of us in some big or small ways, I have been facing with some sort of a debilitating physical condition for the past several months now. Of course, there are a number of moments wherein I would fall into hopelessness and despair.
Once again, hearing the word of God (thru the BIAY) reminds me and gives me a sense of comfort and pushes me to move forward despite and inspite of my personal circumstances. Like in chapter 43 of Isaiah. It's a long chapter but I will just give you the 1st 3 verses that I think in essence serves my point for today.
Isaiah 43:1-3
But now thus says the Lord,
he who created you, O Jacob,
he who formed you, O Israel:
“Fear not, for I have redeemed you;
I have called you by name, you are mine.
2 When you pass through the waters I will be with you;
and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you;
when you walk through fire you shall not be burned,
and the flame shall not consume you.
3 For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.
To borrow Fr. Mike's commentary, God promised the Israelites to "Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine." This is a double claim from the Lord: I have called you by name and you are mine. And this is so important for the people to hear, because the Israelites are kind of worried about the siege that is going to happen to them, probably feeling the same sense of hopelessness and despair as I do, only worse. But God is promising them this double claim even before the worse season of their lives will happen that God will be with them throughout.
This is so important for me and you to hear as well. Maybe you and I have been asking what if our lives don't get any better, what if we don't get out of this funk, what if you will about to experience the worst season of your life is coming? And yet God knows our lives, He knows our story, He is outside space and time.
God is using or allowing this suffering not to destroy his people but to bring us back to his heart. The message of the prophet like Isaiah is always this, to "Come back to the Lord with all your heart."
So maybe you might need to hear this Word and promise of God as well. Perhaps it might seem today like the Lord abandoned you too, maybe today is the worst day of your life, but God still says today and everyday, "I've called you by name and you are mine."
Let us then instead entrust to the Lord all our worries and concerns, to come back to Him with all our hearts with praise and thanksgiving, because our Almighty Father has claimed us His own, by our name, for He is the God of hope. The God of second chances. Our Redeemer. Our Savior.
Exhortation 2021-8-29
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