February 11, 2010 (Isaiah 40-48)

I found today's reading very interesting. As I saw it was more of Isaiah, I was actually dreading it, but I was wrong. It is helping me. We just found out this week that a wonderful man from our church, David Hames, has finally been found in the Hotel Montana. But he was not found alive. There were so many praying for his rescue. So many believing that God would do a miracle. So many KNOWING that God was able to do such a thing. But now, we are coming to grips with the fact that that was not His plan. Below are some verses that spoke to me about that very issue.

^{Isaiah 40:12} Who else has held the oceans in his hand?
Who has measured off the heavens with his fingers?
Who else knows the weight of the earth
or has weighed the mountains and hills on a scale?
¹³ Who is able to advise the Spirit of the Lord?
Who knows enough to give him advice or teach him?
¹⁴ Has the Lord ever needed anyone’s advice?
Does he need instruction about what is good?
Did someone teach him what is right
or show him the path of justice?

^{Isaiah 43:10} “But you are my witnesses, O Israel!” says the Lord.
“You are my servant.
You have been chosen to know me, believe in me,
and understand that I alone am God.
There is no other God—
there never has been, and there never will be.
¹¹ I, yes I, am the Lord,
and there is no other Savior.
¹² First I predicted your rescue,
then I saved you and proclaimed it to the world.
No foreign god has ever done this.
You are witnesses that I am the only God,”
says the Lord.
¹³ “From eternity to eternity I am God.
No one can snatch anyone out of my hand.
No one can undo what I have done.”

^{Isaiah 45:7} I create the light and make the darkness.
I send good times and bad times.
I, the Lord, am the one who does these things.

⁹ “What sorrow awaits those who argue with their Creator.
Does a clay pot argue with its maker?
Does the clay dispute with the one who shapes it, saying,
‘Stop, you’re doing it wrong!’
Does the pot exclaim,
‘How clumsy can you be?’
¹⁰ How terrible it would be if a newborn baby said to its father,
‘Why was I born?’
or if it said to its mother,
‘Why did you make me this way?’”

¹¹ This is what the Lord says—
the Holy One of Israel and your Creator:
“Do you question what I do for my children?
Do you give me orders about the work of my hands?
¹² I am the one who made the earth
and created people to live on it.
With my hands I stretched out the heavens.
All the stars are at my command.

^{Isaiah 40:25} “To whom will you compare me?
Who is my equal?” asks the Holy One.

²⁶ Look up into the heavens.
Who created all the stars?
He brings them out like an army, one after another,
calling each by its name.
Because of his great power and incomparable strength,
not a single one is missing.
²⁷ O Jacob, how can you say the Lord does not see your troubles?
O Israel, how can you say God ignores your rights?
²⁸ Have you never heard?
Have you never understood?
The Lord is the everlasting God,
the Creator of all the earth.
He never grows weak or weary.
No one can measure the depths of his understanding.

Who am I to say to God, "What you have done is wrong". But with the proclamations of His majesty and knowledge, also come declarations of His love and care:

^{Isaiah 40:29} He gives power to those who are tired and worn out.
He offers strength to the weak.
³⁰ Even youths will become weak and tired,
and young men will fall in exhaustion.
³¹ But those who trust in the Lord will find new strength.
They will soar high on wings like eagles.
They will run and not grow weary.
They will walk and not faint.

Isaiah 41:⁹ I have called you back from the ends of the earth,
saying, ‘You are my servant.’
For I have chosen you
and will not throw you away.
¹⁰ Don’t be afraid, for I am with you.
Don’t be discouraged, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you and help you.
I will hold you up with my victorious right hand.

^{Isaiah 43:1} But now, O Jacob, listen to the Lord who created you.
O Israel, the one who formed you says,
“Do not be afraid, for I have ransomed you.
I have called you by name; you are mine.
² When you go through deep waters,
I will be with you.
When you go through rivers of difficulty,
you will not drown.
When you walk through the fire of oppression,
you will not be burned up;
the flames will not consume you.
³ For I am the Lord, your God,
the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.

Isaiah 46:3b I have cared for you since you were born.
Yes, I carried you before you were born.
⁴ I will be your God throughout your lifetime—
until your hair is white with age.
I made you, and I will care for you.
I will carry you along and save you.

And then there were verses reaffirming what God is speaking into my heart about my relationship with Him, and about the state of our country.

^{Isaiah 40:6} A voice said, “Shout!”
I asked, “What should I shout?”

“Shout that people are like the grass.
Their beauty fades as quickly
as the flowers in a field.
⁷ The grass withers and the flowers fade
beneath the breath of the Lord.
And so it is with people.
⁸ The grass withers and the flowers fade,
but the word of our God stands forever.”

^9b Shout, and do not be afraid.
Tell the towns of Judah,
“Your God is coming!”
¹⁰ Yes, the Sovereign Lord is coming in power.
He will rule with a powerful arm.
See, he brings his reward with him as he comes.

^{Isaiah 42:18} “Listen, you who are deaf!
Look and see, you blind!
¹⁹ Who is as blind as my own people, my servant?
Who is as deaf as my messenger?
Who is as blind as my chosen people,
the servant of the Lord?
²⁰ You see and recognize what is right
but refuse to act on it.
You hear with your ears,
but you don’t really listen.”

²¹ Because he is righteous,
the Lord has exalted his glorious law.
²² But his own people have been robbed and plundered,
enslaved, imprisoned, and trapped.
They are fair game for anyone
and have no one to protect them,
no one to take them back home.

²³ Who will hear these lessons from the past
and see the ruin that awaits you in the future?
²⁴ Who allowed Israel to be robbed and hurt?
It was the Lord, against whom we sinned,
for the people would not walk in his path,
nor would they obey his law.
²⁵ Therefore, he poured out his fury on them
and destroyed them in battle.
They were enveloped in flames,
but they still refused to understand.
They were consumed by fire,
but they did not learn their lesson.

^{Isaiah 43:21} I have made Israel for myself,
and they will someday honor me before the whole world.

²² “But, dear family of Jacob, you refuse to ask for my help.
You have grown tired of me, O Israel!
²³ You have not brought me sheep or goats for burnt offerings.
You have not honored me with sacrifices,
though I have not burdened and wearied you
with requests for grain offerings and frankincense.
²⁴ You have not brought me fragrant calamus
or pleased me with the fat from sacrifices.
Instead, you have burdened me with your sins
and wearied me with your faults.

^{Isaiah 44:20} The poor, deluded fool feeds on ashes.
He trusts something that can’t help him at all.
Yet he cannot bring himself to ask,
“Is this idol that I’m holding in my hand a lie?”

²¹ “Pay attention, O Jacob,
for you are my servant, O Israel.
I, the Lord, made you,
and I will not forget you.
²² I have swept away your sins like a cloud.
I have scattered your offenses like the morning mist.
Oh, return to me,
for I have paid the price to set you free.”

²³ Sing, O heavens, for the Lord has done this wondrous thing.
Shout for joy, O depths of the earth!
Break into song,
O mountains and forests and every tree!
For the Lord has redeemed Jacob
and is glorified in Israel.

And so, another long blog, and for the sake of time I haven't even included nearly all the verses that I could have. I think of the verse, "Let the redeemed of the Lord say so!" Look back at those last two verses. He has swept away our sins...He has paid the price to set us free! Break into song! I am convinced we take our salvation for granted. We have been deceived by the lies of this world into thinking that this world is our home. It is not. David is Home! He has received the reward for his faith, and he is Home. This life on earth is not to be lived for "the now", it is to be lived for eternity. But am I really doing that? What is God's Kingdom plan for me? Questions that are good for all of us.