Sometimes Bible passages become more than good advice or practical
principles. In times of heartache and trouble, God’s word can be a foundation
on which to stand when everything else starts crumbling. So let me begin by
telling you why Isaiah 43 means so much to me.
In 1998 a tornado nearly destroyed our home. We were trying
to sell our house, but in one afternoon the storm did so much damage that we
thought no one would ever want it. Both our house and garage were smashed up
and our acre property was strewn with the destroyed remains of a dozen trees
that had been snapped off in the wind.
In the middle of the night God led my wife to Isaiah 43:1-3.
It was incredibly comforting to us both. And the next day, despite the
devastation, we sold our house.
God used the same passage in our lives in 2006. Dionne’s “simple
out-patient procedure” became a health catastrophe that nearly took her life. In
the middle of great pain, she asked me to quote Isaiah 43:1-3. The Lord used His
promises to enable to hang on.
But now thus says the LORD, he
who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: "Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you
are mine. When you
pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall
not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the
flame shall not consume you. For
I am the LORD your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior (Isaiah 43:1-3a;
my highlights).
The
Lord taught us three very simple, but quite wonderful, lessons from this passage.
They gave us strength to walk through “the flood and the fire.” In the next few
posts, I’d like to share them with you.
First,
we belong to Him. But now thus says
the LORD, he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: "Fear
not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine (v. 1).
Isaiah
had spoken extensively about divine judgment in past chapters, but now he says,
people of God – fear not! And the main reason we need not fear the flood and
the fire is that we belong to the Creator of the Universe. Four completed
actions establish His ownership:
- He created us: Thus says the LORD, he who created you… This Hebrew verb is used in the Bible only of God’s creating something out of nothing. We belong to God because He made us, as surely as a man who builds a chair or writes a poem or paints a picture can say, “That’s mine. I made it!”
- He formed us. This is the word of an artist who fashions and designs. In the Hebrew, one form is “potter.” Not only did He make us out of nothing, but we are designed by Him.
- He redeemed us. This is the word of the kinsman redeemer, the one who makes things right: pays debts, avenges death, rescues the poor, marries the widow (as in the book of Ruth).
- He called us to Himself. I have called you by name. You are Mine! How wonderful that our God called us by His amazing and irresistible grace.
You
and I belong to Him by creation and by redemption. He made us and then bought
us back, out of our sin, by the precious blood of His Savior. I love those
words, “You are Mine!”
But if
we belong to Him, we’re His. We are at His disposal. We exist for Him, not the
other way around. Taking this seriously means saying yes to Him in the middle
of pain, telling Him it’s okay to do whatever He wants to do, even if we wouldn’t
have chosen it for ourselves.
Fear not, Christian! We belong to the God whose ways are mysterious,
but whom we know to be good, full of mercy and grace. The path to follow Him is
sometimes dark, but His character is always full of light. Neither the flood
nor the fire, nor anything else in all creation, can separate us from His love.
It makes me think of the chorus of that old hymn “God Leads
His Dear Children Along” -
Some through the waters, some through the flood,
Some through the fire, but all through the blood;
Some through great sorrow, but God gives a song,
In the night season and all the day long.
Here’s a video of the hymn:
UPDATE: My friend Laurie shared a great song based on this passage. Here's the video:
