DAY 288

GOD’S DESIRE FOR YOU

Isaiah 42, 43 & 44 and 1 Thessalonians 2

Some days (or maybe day after day) Isaiah can be daunting. I am finding the long section from 43:1 to 44:5 to be so. Fundamentally it is a reaffirmation of the people of Israel to be the Lord’s servants. We just read in 42 of the special servant. Perhaps the people, especially after they are carried off to exile, will be thinking they lost their relationship with God. BUT GOD IS FAITHFUL. God will not abandon the Covenant He made with his people. God reaffirms their role in the strongest terms in 43:10 and 44:1-2.

One way to understand this chapter is to look for some patterns. When this chapter is studied, scholars see six sections that each start with great statements of encouragement:

1.      Feat not, for I have redeemed you (43:1).

2.      You are my witnesses, declares the Lord (43:10).

3.      I am the Lord…your King (43:15).

4.      See I am doing a new thing (43:19).

5.      I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions (43:25).

6.      I will pour out my Spirit on your off spring (44:3).

Each of these sections could be unpacked more, and as we push into chapter 44 we see again the sin of idolatry. Rather than focus on idolatry, I am drawn to the statements of encouragement and I want to ask you to reflect on the situation and apply it to yourself. The situation is that God’s people have so walked away from God that their nation, their lives, is falling apart. Yet today we read God’s Word which strongly states that they are not abandoned by God—in fact He will pour out his Spirit on their off spring –He is faithful, and He desires his people.

So how about you? Ever felt like you have behaved in way that you think God has every right to just walk away from you? Or maybe you weren’t really “bad,” but more dis-interested and you think maybe God is dis-interested in you? This chapter of Isaiah has a word for you. He does not walk away. He is always interested. In your baptism the priest says the words, “You are sealed and marked as Christ’s own forever:” sealed – marked – forever. Sounds pretty permanent to me. People will want talk about whether a person can lose their faith, but that is not my point, my point is about God, God always desires you.