Good morning my “Walking with Jesus” friends,
60 days from today will be November 6th. The world will be awakening that day, to a newly elected President in America! No matter who it is, things will change, you can be sure of that! And not only here in America, but around the world!
Amazingly, the prophet Isaiah was writing God’s messages to the people of the middle east in a time very similar to ours. Today let’s look at Isaiah 44 and how relevant God’s message is to our day. God said: “Now listen, Jacob My servant, Israel whom I have chosen. This is what the LORD says – He who formed you in the womb and who will help you: Do not be afraid…for I will pour water on the thirsty land, and streams on the dry ground; I will pour out My Spirit on your offspring and my blessing on your descendants… Some will say, ‘I belong to the LORD’ and others will call themselves by the name of Jacob; still others will write on their hand, ‘The LORD’s…” (Is. 44:1-5)
Now I have a very important question for all of us, Jew and Gentile, all around the world, today, September 2024. Are you ready? Here’s the question: are these five verses spoken by God through Isaiah 2700 years ago, an EXCLUSIVE message for the Jewish people during the ever-darkening days of the reign of wicked king Manasseh? OR could the timeline scope be widened to include ALL Jews in the centuries which followed Isaiah? OR is it exclusively a prophecy pointing forward to a particular time in the future? OR is it a message from God that may be applicable to multiple times in history, and both Jews and Gentiles, maybe even including you and me in the 21st century?
Is it possible Isaiah 44:1-5 could apply to each and all of those options? Yes, God was sending a message to a specific group of people, the Israelites, during the reign of king Manasseh. And yes, this message from God has also been applicable to other times in history for the Jewish people, especially in the days of Jesus. And yes, I believe, you and I, Jew and Gentile who trust in Jesus Christ to be our Messiah and Savior, and who experience the Spirit of God poured out upon us, no matter where we live in the world today, can embrace these words of God for us too!
So, what should these words of Isaiah mean to us today? Well, each of us can rejoice that Almighty God miraculously made us, carefully forming us in our mother’s wombs! And we each can look back over our lives to see many times God has helped us, right? So, we should see ourselves in Is. 44:2!
And we all understand this word of HOPE from God; “Do not be afraid!” These four words have been spoken to humanity by angels and prophets as well as Jesus Himself, for millennia! Almighty, Holy, Sovereign, Supreme, Everlasting God sends this hopeful message to His people at all times in all places, for God is with His people; God understands the situations in which we find ourselves; God is sovereign at all times; God sees the future as clearly as this moment; and God’s purpose will NOT be thwarted by any person or even the devil himself and his entire dark kingdom!
So, my friends, if you are part of God’s family through trusting in Jesus Christ… “Do not be afraid” as you trust your life into Almighty God’s hands!
What do you think God meant by saying “I will pour water on the thirsty land”? (Is. 44:3) It means God is always working to accomplish His purposes, to bring glory to Himself, even during times of political mayhem or corrupt governments or war or economic collapse or natural disasters or famine or global disease pandemics… God is ALWAYS working to draw a watching world to Himself and offer HIS HOPE, through God the Son, Jesus Christ, to our desperate humanity!
In fact, the desperate thirst you and I see all around us is a God given thirst quenchable only by God! Do you see it?
Do you see a thirst for justice and fairness with law and order? That is a God given thirst!
Do you see a thirst for healthy families and protected children and elderly, and quality educational environments for kids and safe places for the elderly to finish out their lives? That is a God given thirst!
Do you see a thirst for TRUST… trust in business to be honest and reliable; trust in government to be truthful and serve the people; trust in law enforcement to be fair and protect the people; trust in spiritual leaders to be morally pure and spiritually truthful and help people seek God!
All of those are God awakened thirsts because those thirsts should drive us to seek God, for HE is the ONLY quench for all those thirsts! Now ponder that for a moment.
Have you noticed God is always looking ahead, forward to the next generations and calling us to act in the present in ways that will benefit future generations? That’s what God was saying when Isaiah wrote: “I will pour out My Spirit on your offspring, and My blessing on your descendants…” (Is. 44:3-5) While we human beings naturally focus on the Present and we seek our own satisfaction and happiness, God is simultaneously looking at all time, all generations… Past, Present and Future and many Scriptures show us God wants His people to live today in view of tomorrow. Live today influencing and training up tomorrow’s generations. (Ps. 71:18,19; 78:1-7; 145:5)
That’s what I see in God’s statement through Isaiah: “Some (of those future descendants) will say, “I belong to the LORD; others will call themselves by the name of Jacob; still others will write on their hand, ‘The LORD’s’, and will take the name Israel.” (Is. 44:5) That is a powerful picture of what I see happening in our world today as there is a ravenous spiritual appetite among the young generations as they seek truth, seek God, and seek authentic spirituality.
So, we need to pause and give serious reflection to this question: How do these 5 verses written by Isaiah 2700 years ago apply to you and me in 2024? And what about our cities, our nations and our extended families, our descendants? I’m going to spend the next few minutes in deep reflection and prayer looking at my city, my nation and my extended family through the lenses of these 5 verses, asking God to give me profound understanding as to what God sees as He looks at my world today, and I urge you to do the same.
And here’s a worship song that will help us understand…
Today’s Scripture: Is. 44:1-5.
Choose below to read or listen.
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Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.
Have a comment or question about today’s chapter? I’m ready to hear from you, contact me here.
Pastor Doug Anderson
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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