April 29, 2011 (Isaiah 44-48)

Too often I think we forget all the promises that God has given us. I believe the promises given to Israel, His chosen people, apply to us, His chosen people:

^44:21 “Pay attention, O Israel,
      for you are my servant.
   I, the Lord, made you,
      and I will not forget to help 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.”

And we should be full of joy because of all He has done for us:

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.

All too often I think we go through life without really contemplating what we are doing, just like they did back then:

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 thing, this idol that I’m holding in my hand a lie?”

Chapter 45 is quite interesting, in that it ties pretty much hand in hand with Philippians.

Philippians 2:14 says, ¹⁴ Do everything without complaining and arguing, ¹⁵ so that no one can criticize you. Live clean, innocent lives as children of God, shining like bright lights in a world full of crooked and perverse people. ¹⁶ Hold firmly to the word of life; then, on the day of Christ’s return, I will be proud that I did not run the race in vain and that my work was not useless. 

and I get the impression from that verse that it's about complaining and arguing with each other.  But it also applies to arguing with God about what He does:

^45:5 I am the Lord;
      there is no other God.
   I have equipped you for battle,
      though you don’t even know me,
 ⁶ so all the world from east to west
      will know there is no other God.
   I am the Lord, and there is no other.
    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.

 ⁸ “Open up, O heavens,
      and pour out your righteousness.
   Let the earth open wide
      so salvation and righteousness can sprout up together.
      I, the Lord, created them.

 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.

And I love this verse from Isaiah 45-18:

¹⁸ For the Lord is God,
      and he created the heavens and earth
      and put everything in place.
   He made the world to be lived in,
      not to be a place of empty chaos.
   “I am the Lord,” he says,
      “and there is no other.

I knew this verse was in Philippians (2-5-11):

⁵ You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had.

 ⁶ Though he was God,
      he did not think of equality with God
      as something to cling to.
 ⁷ Instead, he gave up his divine privileges;
      he took the humble position of a slave
      and was born as a human being.
   When he appeared in human form,
    ⁸ he humbled himself in obedience to God
      and died a criminal’s death on a cross.

 ⁹ Therefore, God elevated him to the place of highest honor
      and gave him the name above all other names,
 ¹⁰ that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
      in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
 ¹¹ and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,
      to the glory of God the Father.

but I never remembered it as being in Isaiah:

^45:21 Consult together, argue your case.
      Get together and decide what to say.
   Who made these things known so long ago?
      What idol ever told you they would happen?
   Was it not I, the Lord?
      For there is no other God but me,
   a righteous God and Savior.
      There is none but me.
 ²² Let all the world look to me for salvation!
      For I am God; there is no other.
 ²³ I have sworn by my own name;
      I have spoken the truth,

   Every knee will bend to me,
      and every tongue will confess allegiance to me.”
 ²⁴ The people will declare,
      “The Lord is the source of all my righteousness and strength.”
   And all who were angry with him
      will come to him and be ashamed.
 ²⁵ In the Lord all the generations of Israel will be justified,
      and in him they will boast.

I need to continually remind myself of these verses:

^46:3 “Listen to me, "Sandy".
   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.

 ⁵ “To whom will you compare me?
      Who is my equal?

 ⁹ Remember the things I have done in the past.
      For I alone am God!
      I am God, and there is none like me.