Isaiah Chapter 44
Isaiah Chapter 44 shows me 2 important lessons today.
Blessings of God for Us and Our Families
The chapter starts off with God’s blessings on His people with a wonderful promise:
For I will pour water on him who is thirsty,
And floods on the dry ground;
I will pour My Spirit on your descendants,
And My blessing on your offspring;
~ Isaiah 44:3 ~
We in the church are indeed blessed to understand that this promise is the same as the one Jesus had promised His disciples before He ascended to Heaven. They received the Spirit from the Lord and today, we too, receive this very same Spirit. And this is a blessing not just for us but for our offspring and descendents.
Remember what Peter said in Acts 2:38-39?
38 Then Peter said to them, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call.”
~ Acts 2:38-39 ~
Let us not look lightly on the blessings that God has promised us and work to ensure that our families are recipients of this too.
Not a Spirit of Fear
In Isaiah 44:2 and 8, it says this:
Thus says the Lord who made you
And formed you from the womb, who will help you:
‘Fear not, O Jacob My servant;
(verse 2)Do not fear, nor be afraid;
Have I not told you from that time, and declared it?
You are My witnesses.
Is there a God besides Me?
Indeed there is no other Rock;
I know not one.’ ”
(verse 8)
It reminded me of the words of Paul to Timothy in 2 Tim 1:6-7:
6 Therefore I remind you to stir up the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands. 7 For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.
The gift of the Spirit to us is not a spirit of fear but of power and of love and of a sound mind.
But we may forget this in the face of the circumstances surrounding us. And begin to fear.
We fear about our struggles or what lies ahead because we have lost our focus on the promises of God! And to remind ourselves constantly of the promises of God, we need to focus on the Word of God and the power of the Holy Spirit!
Look at how God reminds the people of Israel:
(repeated here again):
Do not fear, nor be afraid;
Have I not told you from that time, and declared it?
You are My witnesses.
Is there a God besides Me?
Indeed there is no other Rock;
I know not one.’ ”
(verse 8)
In fact, if you read verses 6-7 again, you will see many titles God gave Himself to show us who is He and reasons for us not to fear.
“Thus says the Lord, the King of Israel,
And his Redeemer, the Lord of hosts:
‘I am the First and I am the Last;
Besides Me there is no God.
7 And who can proclaim as I do?
Then let him declare it and set it in order for Me,
Since I appointed the ancient people.
And the things that are coming and shall come,
Let them show these to them.
~ verses 6 – 7 ~
How many did you identify? Here is my list:
- Lord
- King of Israel
- Redeemer
- Lord of Hosts
- First and the Last
- No God besides Him
- Sole Authority (who can proclaim as I do?)
- Controller of all things
If we consider all this carefully, we will better understand who He is and what He is to us.
The world today is beset with many false gods and idols. People may not worship graven images or carved objects. But so many things come to distract and take us away from the worship of God. You know very well what are your distractions in your life of faith.
God can stand before any of them and we must adopt the view about the ridiculousness of idols – just like how Isaiah said it from verses 9 onwards.
As you read those verses, I challenge you to think of it against what you are doing and how you are living your life now. Do you have idols that you are worshipping to that is taking the place of God?
I read a commentary that said this:
Our idols are entertainment, clothing, jewelry, transportation, technology, etc. The greater tragic truth is that most in this world, because of spiritual blindness, do not even view these things as idols. In Isaiah’s day there were 3 primary idols: 1) Baal, the god of sex, 2) Mammon, the god of money, and 3) Moloch, the god of violence. Sex, Money, Violence: does that sound familiar?
Are we spiritually blind to not see where we are going wrong in our focus today?
Will these things matter when Jesus comes again?
May God help us.
