I AM THE LORD WHO (PART 6)

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

This is what the Lord says—your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel:

“I am the Lord your God, who teaches you what is best for you.”

Isaiah 48:17a

This ends today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

Back in Isaiah 44, I had written a five part series titled, “I Am The Lord Who”, a series which highlighted a number of proclamations from the Lord as to who He was and what He could do for His people. In that study, we found the Lord proclaiming Himself as the Maker of all things, the fount of perfect truth, the One who builds and edifies on His firm foundations, the Miracle Worker who can do all things, and finally, the One who calls us to accomplish His purposes. Today, as we continue our look at Isaiah 48, we find the Lord continuing to tell us much more and so I am picking the series back up for five more installments. In part 6, we are reminded that the Lord is the only One who knows what is best for us. Look again at our scripture passage:

This is what the Lord says—your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel:

“I am the Lord your God, who teaches you what is best for you.”  Isaiah 48:17a

When we were growing up, how did we learn about how to live?

Our parents taught us didn’t they?

We were so little and for a short time, unable to do anything for ourselves. We were fully reliant on our father or mother or both for everything. The world was completely new to us and thus we were very unaware and naïve unto its ways. We were rather care-free and unaware of how dangerous our surroundings were. All we knew was that our environment was fertile ground for exploration and experience. Our parents were our watchdogs.

As we grew older, we started to be more independent. We were able to go to school and apart from our parents for long stints of time and yet, we still had guardians watching over us and educating us, imparting the knowledge we needed to develop intellectually while still keeping a watchful eye on our behavior and the behavior of others.

Finally, we reached a point where we were adults. Our primary and secondary educational days were over and we were ready to spread our wings and fly off to experience life on our own. It was an exciting time and of course we all thought we were more ready than we really were. It didn’t take much time being out of the nest to understand that life wasn’t exactly easy and it was even just a little more than scary as we tried to make our own way through it.

Can you relate to this rite of passage? Isn’t life like this?

And even as adults with some years under our belts, we find life seemingly always ready to bring new challenges our way, sometimes just when we started to think we had things all figured out.

This is why this word from the Lord today is so important to us, no matter what stage of life we are in. For despite how things always seem to change, bringing us new degrees of uncertainty along the way, the one constant we have is the Lord and the direction and instruction He provides us. People may come and go in our lives but the Lord remains ever present and consistent in that He always guides us the right way. No one else provides the faultless counsel we find in Him. No one.

You see, the Lord and the Lord alone knows what is best for us. He has a plan for all our lives and has told us so in these words you may have heard before:

For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Jeremiah 29:11  

The Lord wants the best for each and every one of His children and will always be available to show us the right and righteous way as we walk through life. All we need to do is to turn to Him and trust in His ways, following His will in unwavering obedience.

There is no proper way (or better way for that matter) for us to live.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.

Send any prayer requests to OurChristianWalk@aol.com

ENDOWED

Can I pray for you in any way? Send any prayer requests to OurChristianWalk@aol.com.

In Christ, Mark

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

** Follow The Christian Walk on Twitter @ThChristianWalk

** Like posts and send friend requests to the author of The Christian Walk, Mark Cummings on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/mark.cummings.733?ref=tn_tnmn

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

“And now the Sovereign Lord has sent me, endowed with His Spirit.”

Isaiah 48:16b

This ends today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

Do you ever consider yourself to be endowed?

It’s not a word we here every day, is it? And yet, the Lord endows everyone who would place their faith, hope, and trust in Him.

Before I go much further, I need to make sure we’re clear on the meaning of the word “endow”.

You may have heard it used in the sense of someone leaving an endowment to someone. In this case, a monetary gift is provided to some institution (such as a hospital or educational entity) in order to help it fulfill its purposes. More on this from a spiritual perspective in a moment but we need to look at a second definition of “endow” which we will see combines with the first when we consider the Lord in the equation. Simply put, it means:

“to freely or naturally provide (someone or something) with something”.

So why all the discussion about endowing or being endowed?

Because as we will see in today’s half verse from Isaiah 48, the principle takes center stage. Look again at these words:

“And now the Sovereign Lord has sent me, endowed with His Spirit.” Isaiah 48:16b

A dozen words uttered by the prophet Isaiah but it is a statement filled with wisdom and truth for all believers to receive and embrace.

First, the Lord sent Isaiah to do His work.

This is what the Lord does. He sends those who commit to carrying out His will and way to make a difference in His kingdom. They do not go into these endeavors unequipped but rather endowed by the Lord with all they need to carry out His purposes.

If one needs resources in the way of people or money, the Lord endows those things. If one needs wisdom and guidance, the Lord endows those things. If one needs strength and courage well beyond what they possess, the Lord endows those things upon them. If protection is needed, the Lord endows a covering over His chosen servants.

But the Lord doesn’t just endow us when He sends us to carry out His intentions. No, He always endows us through the imparting of His Holy Spirit upon us, a Spirit that is always there with us and for us as we live this thing called life.

The scriptures profess that the Lord endowed Isaiah with His Spirit just as He has to countless others because, you see, the Lord is in the endowment business. He freely provides His disciples what they need at all times, endowing us with His love, comfort, instruction, correction, peace, or anything else we need and always providing it at the perfect time.

I give thanks today and every day that the Lord has endowed me with the ability to discern His word through His Spirit and share it with those who read it every day. It’s such a rich blessing to me, one of so many, and I pray you will also give Him thanks today for anything He has endowed you with.

For when we take account for all He is given to us, how can we be anything else but grateful?

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.

Send any prayer requests to OurChristianWalk@aol.com

COME NEAR AND LISTEN

Can I pray for you in any way? Send any prayer requests to OurChristianWalk@aol.com.

In Christ, Mark

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

** Follow The Christian Walk on Twitter @ThChristianWalk

** Like posts and send friend requests to the author of The Christian Walk, Mark Cummings on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/mark.cummings.733?ref=tn_tnmn

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

“Come near me and listen to this: From the first announcement I have not spoken in secret; at the time it happens, I am there.”

Isaiah 48:16a

This ends today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

I think I can say this with absolute assurance. The Lord is always seeking to speak to us. He is.

Think about it. From the moment we wake in the morning until the time we go to bed in the evening to prepare for the next day, we are faced with a myriad of decisions, choices, and/or judgments to make over any number of matters. Whether we opt for the right things to say, do, or believe or not hinges on whether we seek to communicate with the Lord as much as He longs to do so with us.

You see, there is little arguing that a life built upon consistently and persistently searching for the Lord’s guidance and direction will bear a life lived right and righteously because the Lord is never going to lead us into sin. Rather, He always instructs in ways that carry out His perfect will and way, fulfilling purposes that are always good and just.

Yes, the Lord is always wanting to speak to us and lead us to righteousness. There’s just one problem. We aren’t listening most of the time. We are becoming like a people the prophet Jeremiah spoke of when he wrote the following:

“To whom can I speak and give warning? Who will listen to me? Their ears are closed so they cannot hear. The word of the Lord is offensive to them; they find no pleasure in it.” Jeremiah 6:10

If it was that frustrating for a messenger of the Lord, imagine how exasperating it must have been for the Lord Himself. Instead of His words being received with thanksgiving and gladness by His people, they were instead rejected as offensive and without pleasure. The people chose to close their ears to the Lord and their sinful disrespect and disregard only led to His judgment upon them in the form of a lengthy exile in a foreign land under foreign rule, a just penalty for their actions.

Our Savior Jesus also found Himself frustrated by the people of Israel during His ministry. It seemed they had learned very little from their lengthy consequences at the hands of the Babylonians. Look at these words from God’s only Son:

 The disciples came to him and asked, “Why do you speak to the people in parables?”

He replied, “Because the knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them. Whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them. This is why I speak to them in parables:”

“Though seeing, they do not see; though hearing, they do not hear or understand. In them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah:”

“‘You will be ever hearing but never understanding; you will be ever seeing but never perceiving. For this people’s heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them.’^”

“But blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear.” Matthew 13:10-16

Today, we see both types of people Jesus referred to. We still have people who although seeing do not see and although hear do not hear. Their hearts are calloused, they are hard of hearing, and their eyes are closed to the way and will of the Lord. They would rather do their own thing or adhere to the ways of the world where they are free to do as they choose and not be restricted by stringent commandments and guidelines. Unfortunately, it’s this choice that leads them down the road of sinfulness, wickedness, and evil and away from the life of righteousness the Lord expects.

So what is the solution to this problem?

The Lord gives us the answer in verse 16 of Isaiah 48:

“Come near me and listen to this: From the first announcement I have not spoken in secret; at the time it happens, I am there.”  Isaiah 48:16a

Did you catch the answer to the problem?

The Lord tells us to “come near and listen.”

That’s it. It’s very simple. We need to commit ourselves to stop what we’re doing every day and seek the Lord, to draw near to Him and receive His words for us. He has much to say and going back to the words of Jesus in Matthew, we learn that when we open our eyes to fully see the Lord at work around us and open our ears to receive His guidance and direction and wisdom, then and only then will we begin to come to an understanding of life and our place in it. We receive this with our minds and hearts as the Lord brings healing to what was once calloused and uncaring, reforming us while He is conforming us to a new way of life in Him.

Friends, the Lord is speaking to us all today and granting us critical instruction regarding His expectations for our relationship with Him. In the end translation, He isn’t asking a whole lot from us. He only wants us to come near and listen. We would be wise to hear Him and respond in obedience.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.

Send any prayer requests to OurChristianWalk@aol.com

I AM HE

Can I pray for you in any way? Send any prayer requests to OurChristianWalk@aol.com.

In Christ, Mark

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

** Follow The Christian Walk on Twitter @ThChristianWalk

** Like posts and send friend requests to the author of The Christian Walk, Mark Cummings on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/mark.cummings.733?ref=tn_tnmn

** Become a Follower of The Christian Walk at http://the-christian-walk.blogspot.com

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

“Listen to me, Jacob, Israel, whom I have called: I am He; I am the first and I am the last. My own hand laid the foundations of the earth, and My right hand spread out the heavens; when I summon them, they all stand up together.”

“Come together, all of you, and listen: Which of the idols has foretold these things? The Lord’s chosen ally will carry out His purpose against Babylon; his arm will be against the Babylonians. I, even I, have spoken; yes, I have called him. I will bring him, and he will succeed in his mission.”

Isaiah 48:12-15

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

I am He. Three simple words we find the Lord speaking to His people (and to us) in our scripture passage as we continue our study of Isaiah 48.

It really is the three word answer to any number of questions we might ask God, four of which we can develop from these verses:

“Listen to me, Jacob, Israel, whom I have called: I am He; I am the first and I am the last. My own hand laid the foundations of the earth, and My right hand spread out the heavens; when I summon them, they all stand up together.”

“Come together, all of you, and listen: Which of the idols has foretold these things? The Lord’s chosen ally will carry out His purpose against Babylon; his arm will be against the Babylonians. I, even I, have spoken; yes, I have called him. I will bring him, and he will succeed in his mission.” Isaiah 48:12-15

Question 1 from us: Who made all things?

The Lord responds by saying, “I am He.”

“I am the first and the last. Nothing existed before me and nothing will exist after me. I laid the very foundations of the earth with the same hands that stretched out the heavens across the sky. I made you and everything you see. I am the Lord God Almighty, Maker and Creator of all things. No one else can do what I have done, what I am presently doing, or what I am yet to do. No one.”

Question 2 from us: Who calls us to do what is right and proper in life?

The Lord responds by saying, “I am He.”

“I have called you to fulfill My will and way in life. Your focus needs to be fully on My purposes, purposes that will always lead you to righteousness and right living unto Me and others. Follow My guidance and direction and I will lead you away from evil and wickedness as I transform and conform you to My image so that when people see you they might see Me within you. And know I will always give you whatever you need to do what I desire for you to do. I am always with you and for you.”

Question 3 from us: Where do we get our commands from to carry out your will?

The Lord responds, “I am He.”

“You need to look nowhere else than to me for your commandments, the instructions I will give you to ensure My will is carried out as I mean for it to. I command everything. Even the earth and the heavens are under My authority. Never lean on your own understanding and know I will never leave you wondering what to do. Wait on Me and listen for I will grant you your orders in My perfect way and at My perfect time. Obey me perfectly and you will always be in My favor.”

Question 4 from us: Who knows what the future holds?

The Lord responds, “I am He.”

“No one else holds what is to come in their hands as I do. Everything I foretell comes to be. I told of how Babylon would bring judgment on My people well before it occurred and it played out just as I said it would. Ditto for how I raised up King Cyrus and the Persians to defeat the Babylonians and set my people free to return to Jerusalem to begin the rebuilding process. I ordained it all well before it happened and it came to be just as I said it would. Do not worry about what’s to come outside of securing your salvation through My Son, your Savior Jesus. Outside of that, trust Me and know that I am in control.”

Maybe you have your own questions for the Lord today like:

Who can I turn to for healing?

Who can help me through my time of difficulty?

Who can mend my brokenness?

Who can show me the way to a life full of peace and hope and love?

Of course, the answer to all these questions is just as it has been for the ones prior when we raise them to God.

For He will always say to you, “I am He. Just trust Me and know that there is nothing beyond the work of My hands.”

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.

Send any prayer requests to OurChristianWalk@aol.com