Isaiah 43:1-28 I Redeemed You
God gives Judah a promise. “I redeemed you as My own.” This is exciting and is worthy of praise! Yet, there is still sin to pay for.
If only we could keep the first eleven verses by themselves. They speak of God choosing Israel and how special she is to Him. It also speaks of how great God is. There is NO other god before or after Him. Verses I can dance to! Promises that you can cling to no matter what the circumstances.
But then a memory creeps in. Israel has brought strange gods into their midst. These gods cannot compare to the God who redeemed Israel. They have NO power. They cannot save. They cannot turn back ANY work God puts HIS seal to.
Because of this, there are consequences. GOD brought down Babylon and the Chaldeans FOR THE SAE OF ISRAEL. Israel, and Judah, would not listen. They would not abandon the strange gods. They were refusing to honor the Lord with the sacrifices He had called for. What was being offered was not done with a heart of love but one of ritual. The ‘life’ had left the offerings.
Discipline was required to return Israel to the Lord. Not as she was while in the desert. Or as she was when she called for a king. Nor as she would be while in captivity. And not even as she would be while Jesus walked the earth. God’s discipline, then and later, would bring about a people whose whole heart is turned to Him. One He would do a NEW thing with. One He would forever call His own.
God calls Israel His own. Not because everyone born of the line of Jacob would love and serve Him. Not so He could have a puppet people to do His bidding. He created Israel from the ground up. From the faith journey He took Abram/Abraham on, to the forming of a nation from one family group, to separating them from all other people with His laws, to providing a place for them to thrive, to establishing their government, and watching over them with an everlasting covenant. God brought a nation out of nowhere and has re established it even now as a symbol of His promise. No. Not every person in Israel even today is honoring God. But HIS honoring His promise to the people He chose is an example to us of His faithfulness.
God NEVER abandoned Israel, even when she was in DEEP sin. He gave her discipline and love to bring her back in line with His words. The words of covenant with Him. He is still working that discipline today in many ways. And no matter what, His love for Israel will NOT end.
His love for those who choose to follow Him and become His children will not end either. Jesus calls to ALL of us to become sons and daughters of God. For God WILL NOT abandon His children. We are His children through faith in Christ Jesus. And it is as binding as His covenant with Abraham regarding his children.
God gave us an example of His love with Israel. Not an exclusion of who He loves. He proves to us daily how MUCH He loves us by looking at Israel’s story. The wayward child He REFUSES to give up on. The one that He KNOWS will return to Him. And He waits, as the prodigal father did, with His arms aching to hold those who return to Him. Whether Jew or Gentile. He waits with open arms.
Unlike the prodigal father, God can see us in the places where we are. He also sees us in the middle of our ‘discipline’. He promises us that the discipline is FOR OUR GOOD. And He also promises us that, when we put our trust in Him, no matter what we walk through, He will protect us.
This does not mean that our physical bodies never suffer illness or injury. But those whose hearts are in His hands, their spiritual bodies can NEVER be destroyed. Satan may take my physical life some day but he CANNOT touch the real me; my Father’s child. For THIS REASON I will sing! Even in the midst of the storms!
Father God, let me be a Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. One who will serve You, no matter the threat to my life. One who loves You SO MUCH that I would die before falling down before some other god. Let me be the prodigal son who remembers my Father’s house and runs home instead of staying in the pig pen of sin. Let me by Your little girl who climbs up in Your lap for story time and claps with excitement as those stories unfold. Let me be Your soldier who stands firm in battle; side by side with my brothers and sisters in Christ. Let me be a Daniel who refuses to stop praying, even when it becomes a crime. Let me be a David who always pours my heart out in song before You and whom You speak to through those songs. Thank You that I am Annette. The woman who has learned to cherish these times with You and is allowed to share these times with Your other children. I LOVE YOU FATHER. I LOVE YOU JESUS. AND I LOVE YOU HOLY SPIRIT. Thank You God for working in my life through ALL aspects of Your being.,
