The LORD has Comforted His People
1.[v.8-12] His Covenant People: “I will keep you and give you as a covenant to the people”
    A.[v.8-9a] Comfort through Freedom: “saying to the prisoners, ‘Come out,’ to those who are in darkness, ‘Appear’
    B.[v.9b-12] Comfort through Provision and Providence: “they shall not hunger or thirst… for he who has pity on them will lead them, and by springs of water will guide them. And I will make all my mountains a road, and my highways shall be raised up”
2.[v.13-14] His Doubting People: “The LORD has forsaken me; my Lord has forgotten me”
3.[v.15-18] His Beloved People: “Behold, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands”



 
The LORD has Comforted His People
(ISAIAH 49:8-18)
 
Pause & Reflect
 

1. What has God been teaching you through last week’s message? Read the texts once more and discern what the holy Spirit is desiring to say through it.

 
8 Thus says the Lord: “In a time of favor I have answered you; in a day of salvation I have helped you; I will keep you and give you as a covenant to the people, to establish the land, to apportion the desolate heritages, 9 saying to the prisoners, ‘Come out,’  to those who are in darkness, ‘Appear.’ They shall feed along the ways; on all bare heights shall be their pasture; 10 they shall not hunger or thirst, neither scorching wind nor sun shall strike them, for he who has pity on them will lead them, and by springs of water will guide them. 11 And I will make all my mountains a road, and my highways shall be raised up. 12 Behold, these shall come from afar, and behold, these from the north and from the west, and these from the land of Syene.”
 

1. [v.8-12] *Biblical principle – The LORD comforts us by declaring we are His covenant people: Jesus was comforted by the LORD’s timely answer and help during His short ministry on earth as He fulfilled the role of being the servant of God’s salvation to us, setting us free from the bondage of our sins, darkness of our addictions and even death itself. With the comfort He was comforted by, Jesus channels down to us daily by feeding us and guiding us. With this compassion and comfort from Jesus, every mountain to climb becomes a highway to glide across. This comfort from Jesus is available to everyone in every corner of the earth, just as it was for God’s people held captive so long ago. This is because we are His covenant people. He will carry us through it all. It all depends on Him – not us. His covenant is our comfort. His covenant is an unbreakable promise – the unending and never-forsaking presence of Jesus Christ. The LORD has a way of always referring to something in the future as if it has already been completed in the present. Turning to Jesus, the Father God says, “… I have answered you… I have helped you; I will keep you and give you as a covenant to the people… saying to the prisoners, ‘Come out,’ to those who are in darkness, ‘Appear.’” Jesus would not appear on earth until some 700 years later, but the LORD God declares His covenant promises to His only Son. What an encouragement and assurance Jesus would have had in heaven! This already-but-not-yet promise is the heart of God’s covenant with us too. As He did for Jesus, what is the LORD promising to answer, to help, to keep, to give in your future? Like He did for His people, will you ever hunger or thirst although you may not have much? Is the valley the end when He promises to guide you to the springs of water? Will your mountain be a forever obstacle when He says that He will make all mountains a road, a highway to be raised up to be with Him? Will His gospel only remain with us, when He declares that all people from the four corners of the earth shall be affected by our small faithfulness to His Kingdom work?

 
13 Sing for joy, O heavens, and exult, O earth; break forth, O mountains, into singing! For the Lord has comforted his people and will have compassion on his afflicted.
14 But Zion said, “The Lord has forsaken me; my Lord has forgotten me.”
 

1. [v.13-14] *Biblical principle – Instead of being comforted by the LORD’s covenant, we often seek comfort by our own doubts: Although God had promised so much to His people in the giving of His covenant – His servant Jesus – to free them, lead them, guide them, feed them, love them, forgiven them, comfort them, restore them – the people still turned to their own doubts and unbelief. They could not trust God to truly deliver all these covenant promises in future time. Their current circumstances blinded them from the God who was present in all circumstances, saying, “The LORD has forsaken me; my Lord has forgotten me.” If our comfort rests on changing our circumstances instead of seeking God’s covenant, we will never be comforted but always be anxious, misusing God’s promises and misreading God’s character. It is strange how different the LORD’s thoughts and perspectives are from ours. The LORD says we are to be dancing, while the people were doubting. The LORD says we should be singing for joy, while the people were staggering in sorrow. It was strange then, and it is strange now – God’s covenant promises have been fulfilled – He has sent He only Son who died and rose again. The gift of the holy Spirit has been poured out. The new life has begun. Now, we await His second coming again for the renewal of all things in this fallen world. Yet even all these covenant promises still grows the fruit of our conditional demands. Even His compassion still results in gazing upon our circumstances. How have you lost the joy to sing, to break forth in pursuing comfort from the LORD? How are you living by contract instead of covenant with God? How are you living by circumstances instead of covenant with God? Like His people questioned then, what comfort from the world brings us to the point of saying now, “The Lord has forsaken me; my Lord has forgotten me”? How is the LORD calling you to turn from doubting into dancing?

 
15 “Can a woman forget her nursing child, that she should have no compassion on the son of her womb?
Even these may forget, yet I will not forget you.
16 Behold, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands; your walls are continually before me.
17 Your builders make haste; your destroyers and those who laid you waste go out from you.
18 Lift up your eyes around and see; they all gather, they come to you. As I live, declares the Lord, you shall put them all on as an ornament; you shall bind them on as a bride does.
 

1. [v.15-18] *Biblical principle – Even in our doubts, the LORD loves us to His comfort with a covenant-keeping love that can never forsake us nor forget us: Even the best of parents can forget to care for their child time to time. Yet the LORD can never forget us, nor can He ever forsake us. Although the people doubted, the LORD still reminded them of His covenant – He has engraved them on the palms of His hands and He gives victory over those who seek to destroy them, victory that is to be worn like an ornament, like prized jewels on a bride’s dress. As He said to His people long ago, let us hear the voice of the LORD again today, “Lift up your eyes around and see!” See your name engraved on the palm of His hands. Whatever trial, confusion, doubt or despair comes to find you, remember Jesus in whom you are already found in His covenant love for you. Be comforted by this covenant love that can never be broken. Although we fail to find comfort in pursuing the LORD’s covenant, the LORD will remain faithful to pursue us. This is a one-party agreement. In the end, only He acts in good faith towards us. This goodness is so deep, attentive, affectionate. This goodness goes beyond the care of a woman for her nursing mother. Even the best of mothers can forget. Even the worst of mothers can forsake. Yet, the agape love of Father God can never forget nor forsake – He has written your name on the palms of his hands. Your name is forever tattooed permanently on the nail-pierced scars of Jesus’ hands, showing you how much He loves you. Jesus says, “Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven” (LUKE 10:20) and “The one who conquers will be clothed thus in white garments, and I will never blot his name out of the book of life. I will confess his name before my Father and before his angels” (REVELATION 3:5). Therefore, are you living boldly, confidently, courageously, bravely, proudly in His covenant love for you? Like a bride on her wedding day wears her dress with the most prized ornaments and jewels, are you wearing His comfort daily as your ornament to show-off His glory and goodness to a self-glorified and totally depraved world? Read the following Scriptures and take a moment to mediate on the comfort – the very power – that God gives you to empower His covenant in all circumstances:

 
Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. (Psalm 23:4)

This is my comfort in my affliction, that your promise gives me life. (Psalm 119:50)

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. For as we share abundantly in Christ's sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too. If we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; and if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which you experience when you patiently endure the same sufferings that we suffer. Our hope for you is unshaken, for we know that as you share in our sufferings, you will also share in our comfort. (2 Corinthians 1:3-7)

Behold, the hour is coming, indeed it has come, when you will be scattered, each to his own home, and will leave me alone. Yet I am not alone, for the Father is with me. I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world. (John 16:32-33)

Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice insofar as you share Christ's sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed. (1 Peter 4:12-13)

Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. (Isaiah 41:10)

​The LORD is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit. Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the LORD delivers him out of them all. (Psalm 34:18-19) 

 
The central truth of this word was –
We are a people of the LORD’s covenant – not of our changing circumstances. When we look to God’s unbreakable unchanging covenant promise of Jesus Christ and what He did to achieve our comfort, we too can be comforted as Jesus was to finish the will of the LORD as servants of the LORD. Although we are prone to doubt, God rescues us from our confusion by showing us the palms of His engraved hands with our name – the nail-scared hands of Jesus as a reminder that our names are forever in the Lamb’s book of life (Revelation 3:5; 21:27; Luke 10:20) and He is forever with us. His compassion and comfort cannot compare with the attention of a mother nursing her child. Son/daughter of God, the LORD has comforted you! Wear the ornament of His comfort daily. Lift up your eyes, sing for joy, because your mountain is becoming a highway into His comfort! He has not forsaken you, nor forgotten you!
– *How has the LORD spoken to you today through this?
 

Holy Spirit Moment
Take a moment to invite the Holy Spirit to fill you, and pray.
 
Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. (1 THESSALONIANS 5:16-18)
 
…do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. (PHILIPPIANS 4:6-7)

Peace Like a River
1.[v.12-16] The Presence of Peace: “Listen to me… I am the first, and I am the last… The LORD loves him; He shall perform His purpose… now the LORD God has sent me, and His Spirit”
2.[v.17-19] The Potential for Peace: “Oh that you had paid attention to my commandments! Then your peace would have been like a river, and your righteousness like the waves of the sea”
3.[v.20-22] The Promise in Peace: “They did not thirst when he led them through the deserts”

 
Peace Like a River
(ISAIAH 48:12-22)
 
Pause & Reflect

1. What has God been teaching you through last week’s message? Read the texts once more and discern what the holy Spirit is desiring to say through it.

 
12 “Listen to me, O Jacob,
and Israel, whom I called!
I am he; I am the first,
    and I am the last.
13 My hand laid the foundation of the earth, and my right hand spread out the heavens; when I call to them,
    they stand forth together.
14 “Assemble, all of you, and listen!
    Who among them has declared these things? The Lord loves him;
    he shall perform his purpose on Babylon, and his arm shall be against the Chaldeans.
15 I, even I, have spoken and called him; I have brought him, and he will prosper in his way.
16 Draw near to me, hear this:
    from the beginning I have not spoken in secret, from the time it came to be I have been there.” And now the Lord God has sent me, and his Spirit.

1. [v.12-16] *Biblical principle – THE PRESENCE OF PEACE: We can have continuous peace like a flowing river because God’s presence is continuously flowing over us, around us, and within us. He is the first and the last over all eternity – His right hand spread out the heavens above us. He loves us – His love surrounds us – just as He did for a foreign king like Cyrus, to accomplish His purposes. His presence is within us because He has sent Jesus Christ and His Spirit to indwell us. Be at peace. His presence is here – He is the God with us! The LORD had just announced that for His name’s sake, He will refine His stubborn and hard-hearted people in the furnace of affliction, removing their impurity and transforming them to live for His glory instead of their own. This refining fire of God would soon come as His discipline for His people through 70 years of captivity at the hands of the Babylonian empire. Upon hearing this, fear, hopelessness, discouragement, and anxiety would have overwhelmed the people of God. Yet how does the LORD give them peace by His character? Peace (shalom) is not the absence of conflict, but the presence of Your Creator – shalom means wholeness, completeness in your God – not lacking nor wanting anything else – as PSALM 23 begins, “The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.” What do you lack when your God laid the foundation of the earth, and His right hand spread out the heavens? What do you lack when the Lord says that He loves you, as He did for a foreign king (v.14)? What do you lack when He says before it came to be, “I have been there” (v.16)? What do you lack when He has sent Himself in Jesus Christ, and His Spirit (v.16)? How do you need to listen and draw near to the presence of this peace?

 
17 Thus says the Lord, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: “I am the Lord your God, who teaches you to profit, who leads you in the way you should go.
18 Oh that you had paid attention to my commandments! Then your peace would have been like a river, and your righteousness like the waves of the sea;
19 your offspring would have been like the sand, and your descendants like its grains; their name would never be cut off or destroyed from before me.”

1. [v.17-19] *Biblical principle – THE POTENTIAL FOR PEACE: Although the presence of God’s peace is before us, we can miss it and forfeit it by not paying attention to the LORD’s commandments. Obedience motivated by the embrace of God’s love is the key to grasping the opportunity for possessing His peace. Pay attention! Be alert! Be awake to obey what He says. Then, your peace will flow like a never-ending river, your righteousness like the waves of the sea. All those hidden in Christ Jesus, trusting and obeying what He says, will experience maximum potential to enjoy and glorify Him. Although the LORD God taught His people to grow and led them in the way they should go (v.17), they did not pay attention and therefore lost the opportunity to experience His peace like a river. They had potential, but it was unfulfilled potential. How is God also calling you to pay attention to Him today? How are we so prone to falling into unfulfilled potential for Jesus? Do you obey God’s commands out of duty or out of delight? PSALM 1:1-3 says, “Blessed is the man [and woman] who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his [her] delight is in the law of the LORD, and on His law he [she] meditates day and night. He [She] is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither.” When we obey the LORD out of delight, His peace within us becomes like a river and righteousness like waves of the sea. Why is His peace like river – what is so peculiar about a river, even if an obstacle is thrown in its path? How can the river of His peace, the waves of His righteousness, flow into and flow out of you to one another? How can we heed the warning of unfulfilled spiritual potential, and live into maximum potential for the LORD through godly obedience today?

20 Go out from Babylon, flee from Chaldea, declare this with a shout of joy, proclaim it, send it out to the end of the earth; say, “The Lord has redeemed his servant Jacob!”
21 They did not thirst when he led them through the deserts; he made water flow for them from the rock; he split the rock and the water gushed out.
22 “There is no peace,” says the Lord, “for the wicked.”

1. [v.20-22] *Biblical principle – THE PROMISE IN PEACE: God’s peace that transcends all understanding is a guaranteed promise. It isn’t a fantasy or unreachable tranquility, but a tangible promise proven by redemptive history. The LORD brought peace to His people from captivity through the promise of king Cyrus. The LORD provided water for His people as they made their way back to the homeland, just as He provided water from the rock in the desert when the people complained to Moses of their thirst (Exodus 17:1-7). That rock was Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 10:4). He is the promised provision of peace we can drink from and never be thirsty again. For God’s ancient people, His peace would come tangibly, visibly, and concretely through their return from 70 years of exile and abduction by the Babylonians, as they declare the LORD has redeemed them. How is God’s peace a tangible, visible, concrete, promised reality in your life, even in times of trial? As Moses gave God’s people water out of the rock, that water was peace for an anxious people and that rock was Christ. What water is Jesus flowing forth for you to drink today? For the wicked, there is no peace, although they might have temporal peace now, because their end is destruction and eternal suffering. How is the opposite true for those hidden in Christ’s righteousness, although full peace on earth is yet to come? *Read together these scriptures:

 
You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you. (ISAIAH 26:3)
For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. (ROMANS 8:6)
May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope. (ROMANS 15:13)
And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. (COLOSSIANS 3:15)
And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace. (JAMES 3:18)
 

 
The central truth of this word was –
“There is no peace,” says the LORD, “for the wicked.” Although it may appear the wicked prosper while the righteous suffer, God’s shalom (peace) rests only with those hidden in the righteousness of Jesus Christ. We have peace with God through the reconciling work of Christ. We have peace in God through the trials and storms of life, like a continuous flow of river water that goes around the obstacles in its way. We can have peace with one another, as we extend the flowing waters from our rock, Jesus Christ, to those around us as peacemakers. All this is anchored in the presence, potential, and promise of His peace through His Spirit that indwells us. Let peace like a river flow!
– *How has the LORD spoken to you today through this?
 
​
Holy Spirit Moment
Take a moment to invite the Holy Spirit to fill you, and pray.
 
Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. (1 THESSALONIANS 5:16-18)
 
…do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. (PHILIPPIANS 4:6-7)
​

For My Name’s Sake, I Have Refined You
1.[v.1-5] Refining Needed: “not in truth or right… you are obstinate”
2.[v.6-8] Extent to be Refined: “before birth you were called a rebel”
3.[v.9-11] Refiner’s Motive: “For my name’s sake… I have tried you in the furnace of affliction”​


For My Name’s Sake, I Have Refined You
(ISAIAH 48:1-11)
 
Pause & Reflect
 

1. What has God been teaching you through last week’s message? Read the texts once more and discern what the holy Spirit is desiring to say through it.

 
1 Hear this, O house of Jacob,
    who are called by the name of Israel,
    and who came from the waters of Judah, who swear by the name of the Lord and confess the God of Israel, but not in truth or right.
2 For they call themselves after the holy city, and stay themselves on the God of Israel; the Lord of hosts is his name.
3 “The former things I declared of old;
    they went out from my mouth, and I announced them; then suddenly I did them, and they came to pass.
4 Because I know that you are obstinate, and your neck is an iron sinew and your forehead brass,
5 I declared them to you from of old,
    before they came to pass I announced them to you,
lest you should say, ‘My idol did them,
    my carved image and my metal image commanded them.’
 

1. [v.1-5] *Biblical principle – [v.1-5] REFINING NEEDED: God’s people were double-minded, confessing Him as God yet not in truth or right. They were hard-hearted, with iron necks and brass foreheads, refusing to bow and closing their minds to His words. They were obstinate – stubbornly unchangeable to the core. You can confess God rightly, but still live untruthfully. We are a people whose mind and actions are constantly in tension. For this reason, Jesus Christ came to refine and purify us. We were all once like “Jacob” – deceiving, proud, self-centered – yet how is God calling you by the name of “Israel” – the one who overcomes/prevails with Him? The LORD’s desire is simple – He just wants His truth and righteousness to come upon you. Yet how do we complicate this with a double-minded heart? What is your iron neck and brass forehead, refusing to submit before the LORD and one another? How is our stubbornness, obstinate mind, getting in the way of the grace that God wants to pour out into you and through you for one another?

 
6 “You have heard; now see all this;
    and will you not declare it?
From this time forth I announce to you new things, hidden things that you have not known.
7 They are created now, not long ago;
    before today you have never heard of them, lest you should say, ‘Behold, I knew them.’
8 You have never heard, you have never known, from of old your ear has not been opened. For I knew that you would surely deal treacherously, and that from before birth you were called a rebel.
 

1. [v.6-8] *Biblical principle – [v.6-8] EXTENT TO BE REFINED: God’s people were always bent on giving credit to themselves for what God had spoken and done by Himself. Instead of being humbled by His word, they would say, “I knew them” already and I know better. This kind of nature is in every human being, even before birth. We are totally depraved – having no ability to hear or know God. This is how far, deep, and wide the refining and purifying work of Christ extends into life prior, life now, and life forever with Him. One quality of God that keeps repeating and is put in the spotlight is His ability to prophetically predict the future down to its finite details. The things that have yet to be heard or appear, the LORD can say and declare them as if it is done. What is the LORD saying and declaring to be done in your life, although you haven’t heard or seen it come to pass yet, according to His character and Word? How does this give us hope and a secure standing? Even before birth, we were hopeless. Yet even before birth, what was God doing for you?

 
9 “For my name's sake I defer my anger; for the sake of my praise I restrain it for you, that I may not cut you off.
10 Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver; I have tried you in the furnace of affliction.
11 For my own sake, for my own sake, I do it, for how should my name be profaned? My glory I will not give to another.
 

1. [v.9-11] *Biblical principle – [v.9-11] REFINER’S MOTIVE: Since His people are helpless in themselves, unable to remedy their own condition, the LORD defers His anger by grace for the sake of His name. Since His name is stamped on His people as their Creator, He must ensure they will be refined and purified. The way God does this is through the furnace of affliction. God is like a refining fire that does not burn us, but warms us and restores us. As fire removes impurity in metals, Jesus removes impurity through affliction. The trials of life are an occasion for this fire of Jesus Christ. The LORD loves to guard His own name. It is His quality-control – everything stamped with His name will showcase His glorious grace to the praise of His name – guaranteed! How is God guarantee His grace, provision, presence through the furnace of afflictions in your life? How is the fire of affliction a real blessing in disguise? How can we stop asking “why” and starting glorying in the “with” – God with us through it all? Read together – 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. (ISAIAH 43:2); In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, So that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. (1 PETER 1:6-7). Nothing going into the fire comes out the same as it was before the fire. How is Jesus calling you into His fire to come out more gloriously refined than before?

 

 
The central truth of this word was –
The LORD is a refining fire, fanning His flame through the afflictions of life. There, He reminds us that although our minds and actions always fall short to His truth and righteousness, He will never forsake us nor leave us. Instead, He brings His fire in Jesus Christ near – a fire that does not burn us up but refines us through and through. He has refined us, for His name’s sake! Although not fully realized yet, it is guaranteed as we all are stamped with the name of being His child by His grace. For the sake of upholding His saving name, He will lead you and bring you home.
– *How has the LORD spoken to you today through this?
 

Holy Spirit Moment
Take a moment to invite the Holy Spirit to fill you, and pray.
 
Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. (1 THESSALONIANS 5:16-18)
 
…do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. (PHILIPPIANS 4:6-7)

My Counsel Shall Stand
(ISAIAH 46:8-13)
 
Pause & Reflect
 

1. What has God been teaching you through last week’s message? Read the texts once more and discern what the holy Spirit is desiring to say through it.

 
8 “Remember this and stand firm,
    recall it to mind, you transgressors,
9     remember the former things of old;
for I am God, and there is no other;
    I am God, and there is none like me,
10 declaring the end from the beginning
    and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose,’
 

1. [v.8-10] *Biblical principle – DIAGNOSIS OF THE PROBLEM: As was the case for God’s ancient people, the main problem is our spiritual Alzheimer’s/dementia. The mind is corrupt and set on forgetting the LORD, impairing our thoughts and behavior. “Remember the former things of old,” says the LORD. This is not just a call to recollect what is in your memory, but what is in His Word – what He has said from the beginning. The starting-point of what we remember must be in the Creator God, among whom there is no other, declaring the end from the beginning. We, then, as His creatures, can be counseled aright. While they strenuously carried their idols on their shoulders, God’s people had forgotten that they were being carried in His arms. While they cried out to an object that could not move nor answer, God’s people had forgotten it was the LORD alone who was moving and answering them, beckoning them to listen to what He was saying. God calls us to remember Him – beyond the scope of our memory – from the very beginning of creation – “the former things of old.” From the Scriptures, what can you remember about God in what He has done, in how He created a people for Himself, in making a way to save them although they constantly turned away? How can you enlarge the framework of your memory back to creation? Are you framing your memory there or on what you can recall from personal experience alone? Alzheimer’s/dementia is a terrible disease that progressively snatches away your memory. It begins with mild memory loss and then advances to loss of all control in thought, language, and action. Yet although we lose control of all our being, the Spirit of God preserves the power to remember the LORD as He revealed Himself in Scripture. It is like the light at the end of a dark tunnel that we can never lose to see and have back. We may lose our memory, but God can never be lost within us. Are you losing your way, or finding your way by strengthening your memory in the LORD’s counsel? What are you forgetting that the LORD is calling you to remember? What do you remember about God from this past week, past month, past three months?

 
11 calling a bird of prey from the east,
    the man of my counsel from a far country. I have spoken, and I will bring it to pass; I have purposed, and I will do it.
 

1. [v.11] *Biblical principle – TREATMENT PLAN: There is no self-cure to renew the corrupt mind that continues to deny remembering the LORD. Since it is part of our nature, no medicine can permanently reorient and heal the structure of our heart and thoughts. Therefore, as God sovereignly provided a future deliverer for His people from their captivity (King Cyrus of Persia), He did for us what we could never do for ourselves. He has called, spoken and purposed His own Son, Jesus Christ, to not only treat us, but transform our lives permanently to His purpose in putting to death and raising to life His own Son for our own sins yesterday, today, and forever. A bird chasing its prey is a portrait of unswerving purpose. This bird was Cyrus for God’s people then, and it is Jesus Christ for God’s people today. Jesus is the only cure to our uncurable spiritual dementia. How is Jesus not only treating you, but transforming you? How is the one whom God has called, spoken, and purposed for your life becoming your new life? Why is a personal relationship with Jesus – above and beyond any relationship in your life (spouse, parent, sibling, relative, employer/employee) – the sustaining treatment and transformation out of spiritual dementia? How is what Jesus Christ has done through the cross and resurrection a memory that cannot ever be forgotten or erased?

 
12 “Listen to me, you stubborn of heart,
    you who are far from righteousness:
13 I bring near my righteousness; it is not far off,
    and my salvation will not delay;
I will put salvation in Zion,
    for Israel my glory.”
 

1. [v.12-13] *Biblical principle – [v.12-13] FOLLOW-UP: We are permanently sealed by the holy Spirit and transformed by the work of the cross and resurrection of Jesus Christ. However, it takes time and self-discipline to grow into what God has done fully and finally done, just as a child grows into becoming an adult one day. The LORD will continue to check-up on our stubborn hearts by convicting us to listen to His counsel, for it is near and not far off nor delayed. Repeatedly, we need to listen to the full counsel and collective wisdom before us in His Word. This isn’t about knowing more, but hearing more from our Wonderful Counselor (Isaiah 9:6). Are you listening? Once the problem is diagnosed (corrupt minds and hearts set on forgetting the LORD) and reframed to find a treatment (Jesus Christ who gifts us new minds and hearts set on recalling the LORD), our ears can open to listen and hear the word of the LORD constantly, daily, repeatedly as we apply the counsel of Christ into our lives. How can we be hearing but not really listening? When we really listen, is God’s counsel far or near? How can we cultivate listening to the LORD’s counsel in His word as near as it is – one way which you are doing already through this life group? How can we make listening with the intention to act upon it a spiritual habit? James 1:22-25 says, “But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.” Are you following-up on listening to God in what He has spoken? What action do you need to take with what you have heard and listened to?

 

 
The central truth of this word was –
“Listen to me, you stubborn of heart, you who are far from righteousness: I bring near my righteousness; it is not far off, and my salvation will not delay,” says the LORD God. Listen to the counsel of the LORD! Only His counsel shall stand! Our minds and hearts are corrupt, in denial of remembering the LORD of creation, who appears far off. Instead, we declare our own counsel to control the beginning, middle, and end of all things. Yet God in His grace has the God-man of His counsel – Jesus Christ – who reverses the corruption in ourselves to bring us into His righteousness. Listen to His words. Be treated and transformed. Keep in-step and follow Him!
– *How has the LORD spoken to you today through this?
 

Holy Spirit Moment
Take a moment to invite the Holy Spirit to fill you, and pray.
 
Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. (1 THESSALONIANS 5:16-18)
 
…do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. (PHILIPPIANS 4:6-7)