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In Christ, Mark
In Christ, Mark
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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
Then
His people recalled the days of old, the days of Moses and his people—where
is He who brought them through the sea, with the shepherd of His flock?
Where is He who set His Holy Spirit among them, who sent His glorious arm of power to be at Moses’ right hand, who divided the waters before them, to gain for Himself everlasting renown, who led them through the depths?
Like a horse in open country, they did not stumble; like cattle that go down to the plain, they were given rest by the Spirit of the Lord. This is how You guided Your people to make for Yourself a glorious name.
Isaiah 63:11-14
This ends today’s
reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.
Have been going through a valley of late, trying to find
work again. I decided at the end of last year to take a break and spend the
first four months of 2015 working on my Master’s degree but after that, I began
looking for new employment.
It’s been a journey and maybe you or someone else is going
through it too or any number of challenges that can leave us feeling inadequate
and wondering if things are ever going to break our way.
It’s true, right?
Life’s circumstances can put us in a place where it never
seems the difficulty we’re in will never end. We feel like we slip further and
further down a hole we may never get to climb out of. Hope and faith can wane
away a little at a time as each day passes that we’re still in the midst of
hardship. It’s hard to look backwards or forwards because we’re stuck in the
present.
The people of Israel had to feel like this as they were in
captivity in Babylon, a seventy year penalty imposed by God for their unabashed,
brazen worship of false gods and idols in direct violation of God’s commands
that they were well aware of. They had been warned and given every opportunity
to stop sinning but they disregarded those warnings and disrespected God in the
worst possible way.
And so He made good on His promise to send His judgment
upon them and it wasn’t pleasant.
The Israelites were ripped from their homeland of Judah
before that kingdom and the holy city of God’s people had was taken from them
and they lived as prisoners in a foreign land under oppression. Day after day
after day, they had to mourn their sin that had caused them to be in their
circumstances. The exile had to drag on and on and on as if it would never end.
Seventy years is a long time, a lifetime for many people who would perish in
Babylon and never get to see Israel again.
But something happened in the middle of all this trouble
the Israelites brought on themselves.
A light broke through their darkness, a light that offered
them hope while they endured adversity. That light came in the way of
remembering all that the Lord had done and knowing that He could and would do
it again. Look at today’s scripture passage as we continue our study of Isaiah
63:
Then His people recalled the days of
old, the days of Moses and his people—where is He who brought them
through the sea, with the shepherd of His flock?
Where is He who set His Holy Spirit among them, who sent His glorious arm of power to be at Moses’ right hand, who divided the waters before them, to gain for Himself everlasting renown, who led them through the depths?
Like a horse in open country, they did not stumble; like cattle that go down to the plain, they were given rest by the Spirit of the Lord. This is how You guided Your people to make for Yourself a glorious name. Isaiah 63:11-14
The Babylonian exile wasn’t the first time the people of
Israel were confined in a foreign land and oppressed. The captured Israelites
remembered their ancestors who had been held in Egypt by Pharaoh who refused to
release them, even with God giving the order to. They remembered how God chose
a leader in Moses for the Israelites to follow to freedom but as they fled the
onrushing Egyptian ruler and his army, they came upon a great sea. Surely they
would perish unless some miracle occurred and the seas gave way so they could
cross.
And that’s exactly what happened.
Through His almighty power working through Moses, God
divided the waters of the sea, allowing His people to cross through on dry land
before bringing those seas crashing down on the Israelite’s Egyptian pursuers.
He had rescued His people from their captivity and set them on the path to
Canaan, the land He promised to give them to live in. Of course, Canaan was
none other than the land we call Israel today.
But note that in all of this, from delivering His people
from the hands of the Egyptians to guiding them through their forty day exodus
through the wilderness to get to Canaan, God was always with them, shepherding
His flock. And in the end, it was He who was glorified and honored. It was His
name that was praised and renowned.
So what’s the point here? What is the word of God teaching
us today about dealing with our present day circumstances?
It’s simple. We’re being directed to not forget everything
the Lord has done in our lives and in the lives of those we know.
Go back to my current situation. As I was feeling down
about another day passing with no interest from an employer, I remembered a few
years ago after I retired from the Navy.
You see, I served twenty eight and a half years (which was most
of my life) and during that time, I never had to worry about where I would be
working. I had steady employment, steady income, and steady benefits. But after
retirement, I jumped into the job pool and looked for employment, finding there
were a lot of people in the pool with me that had talent, experience, and
education. Months came and went without getting a chance to interview for a
position and I wondered whether I would get an opportunity. Then one day the
phone rang and I was told I was a finalist for a position that would have me
teaching military members and their families. I prepared for the interview, did
well during it, and was offered the job. I was no longer unemployed and God
blessed me with the ability to go to work again.
And so as I wait now for work again, I found comfort in
remembering that God had delivered me once from unemployment to a job and I
know He can and will do it again. In recalling what He had done for me before,
I gained hope for what He can do in the future and my despair turned to eager
excitement and anticipation for what lies ahead.
Friends, I don’t know what you may be going through as you
read this but I do know this for certain. We serve an Almighty God who is in
the deliverance business. He loves and cares for His people deeply and is
always working things for the good of those who love Him (Romans 8:28). All we
need to do is trust Him and hold onto hope, patiently waiting for Him to move
powerfully in our lives, relieving us from our place of difficulty and bringing
us to a place of blessing, a place where His name will be praised and glorified
and honored as we tell others of the good He has done in our lives.
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
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