Isaiah 44
"This is what the Lord says --
Israel's King and Redeemer, the Lord Almighty:
I am the first and I am the last;
apart from me there is no God.
Who then is like me? Let him proclaim it.
Let him declare and lay out before me what has happened since I established my ancient people,
and what is yet to come -
yes, let him foretell what will come.
Do not tremble, do not be afraid.
Did I not proclaim this and foretell it long ago?
You are my witnesses. Is there any God besides me?
No, there is no other Rock; I know not one."

I think in a way God understands the difficulty in believing in some of the abstract concepts that are involved with Christianity. Things like pre-destiny, the Trinity...
But in this passage He gives us an account of the tangible things he has done through the nation of Israel, where the realities of His holiness, justice and love are very clear.

I wonder about our own lives, is one of the ways God is made known to people through what other people see in us? Such that when people are wondering about God, do they need to struggle through abstract concepts and beliefs? Or can they come to God simply through what they see He has done in our lives?

I pray that somehow, people will testify about us, about what God has done in our lives and how it has touched them somehow, even to find out more about this God.

Categories: Isaiah, Thoughts

Isaiah 43
Something encouraging for everyone:

"Fear not, for I have redeemed you;
I have summoned you by name; you are mine.
When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;
and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you.
When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned;
The flames will not set you ablaze.
For I am the Lord, your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Saviour;
I give Egypt for your ransom, Cush and Seba in your stead.
Since you are precious and honored in my sight, and because I love you,
I will give men in exchange for you, and people in exchange for your life.
Do not be afraid, for I am with you;
I will bring your children from the east and gather you from the west.
I will say to the north, "Give them up!" and the the south "Do not hold them back."
Bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the ends of th earth -
everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory,
whom I formed and made."

This was spoken by God through Isaiah to the people of Israel, a nation whose homes have been destroyed and whose people have been scattered.
However, God reminds them that this is part of His great plan, that as long as they are His children they have nothing to fear.
Nothing, no matter good or bad will happens that is without purpose and we can see this through Israel's journey through history.

For us today, we are God's chosen people, we are His children. And we are watch over by the same God who brought Israel out of countless disasters.

In all of our strife and troubles, whenever we struggle with the world, ourselves, others, we can be assured that we as God's children will always have nothing to fear.

Categories: Isaiah, Thoughts

Isaiah 42
"I will lead the blind by ways they have not known,
along unfamiliar paths I will guide them;
I will turn the darkness into light before them and make the rough places smooth.
These are the things I do;
I will not forsake them"

I consider these verses my life verses, a few verses that I have looked at about 2 years back and realize that has how God has brought me to where I am and that's how God will bring me to where He wants me to be.

I think if anyone takes the time to read through Isaiah, even if they struggle through some chapters, they will definitely enrich their view of who God really is. How He is more than just the Sunday School answers you listen to and regurgitate in some kind of weekly religious ritual but that He is really a God who treasures those He created. How He is a God who loves justice and how He is a God who goes through so much just to see us grow as his children and servants.

In a way when I drifted away from God 3 years ago after a decade of going to church, growing up in a Christian family and even serving in various ministries, God brought me back to the core of what Christianity is all about.

It's not about ministry, your life, or anything else but how you know God and how all the other things flows from that knowledge and that relationship.

I think that's where our faith grows, it's in the times and places where we can't see or can't figure out where life is taking us and we give it to God to lead us. We just surrender that to Him.

Categories: Isaiah,, Thoughts