Tuesday, February 22, 2011
(Isaiah 40:21-31 The Lord gives strength to the weak.)
Isaiah 40:21 "Have you not known? Have you not heard? Has it not been told you from the beginning? Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth?"
CONSIDER THE RECORD
Israel accused God of disregarding their need for help, when they were the ones who had forsaken God to worship idols. Isaiah responds rather incredulously, "Have you not known? ..."
Consider who you are accusing of not seeing or caring. "It is he who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers; who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them out like a tent to dwell in" (40:22). This is the almighty Creator of the universe you are talking about. You should have known this. You have heard this from the beginning.
Isaiah continues (23-24), "Who brings princes to nothing, and makes the rulers of the earth as emptiness. Scarcely are they planted, scarcely sown, scarcely has their stem taken root in the earth, when he blows on them, and they wither, and the tempest carries them off like stubble." God rules all the rulers of the earth. God had brought down kings and rulers for their sake. They should know that. Their history is full of God's help and deliverance. God defeated the Pharaoh of Egypt for them. God drove out the nations before them and gave them the land where they lived. If they would only remember the record of God's help in the past, they would not be so quick to accuse Him now.
Consider the record of your life with God. Has He forsaken you in the past? He is the God who sits above the heavens and sees everything going on in your life. He is the one who has brought you into the world. He is the one who has delivered you from the grasp of Satan; the one who has cleansed you from the your sin and its punishment; the one who has made you His own child by faith in His Son Jesus Christ.
The Lord God is the one "Who forgives all your iniquities, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from destruction, who crowns you with loving-kindness and tender mercies, who satisfies your mouth with good things, so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's" (Psalm 103:3-5).
Do not judge God's faithfulness in the light of any present trouble. Look at the record of His help and know that He will not forsake you now.
