"REALLY"...EVEN BACK IN THE DAY?

Isaiah 49:20-21

*THE SCRIPTURE USED TODAY  -20 The children born during your bereavement    will yet say in your hearing,‘This place is too small for us;    give us more space to live in.’21 Then you will say in your heart,    ‘Who bore me these?I was bereaved and barren;    I was exiled and rejected.    Who brought these up?I was left all alone,    but these—where have they come from?’”

*MY INTERPRETATION: While you are in the midst of mourning over a lost love one, your children will have the nerve to complain about their living space and request more. You will ask yourself, “where did these children come from? I feel as if I am the one who is dead and rejected. Did I raise these children to act like this? I feel so alone and yet these children….they surely are not the children I raised.

*MY RESEARCH & REFLECTIONS OF THE PASSAGE APPLIED TO MY LIFE

How many times has my Mom asked herself this question? We-her children- have led her down this path one too many times. Now that we are parents, we have experienced those same emotions. I do not know how many times I have stated to my husband, “we did not raise her to be that way! Why does she act like that?” Well, obviously it is nothing new. If it occurred over 2000 years ago and was significant enough to leave it’s mark in the bible, then it was significant enough to inform us we are not in this alone. I don’t really know that that is a good thing or that it is even very reassuring, though. Nevertheless, eventually we look at those offspring of ours in pure amazement, with jaws hanging to the ground and the only thing we can think of is, "REALLY?"

*DEFINITIONS REVIEWED: bereaved be deprived of a loved one through a profound absence, especially due to the loved one's death. barren bleak and lifeless exiled expel and bar (someone) from their native country, typically for political or punitive reasons. rejected dismiss as inadequate

Only Deployed...Not Abandoned or Forgotten

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*THE SCRIPTURE USED TODAY Isaiah 49: 13 Shout for joy, you heavens;    rejoice, you earth;    burst into song, you mountains!For the Lord comforts his people    and will have compassion on his afflicted ones.14 But Zion said, “The Lord has forsaken me,    the Lord has forgotten me.”15 “Can a mother forget the baby at her breast    and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget,    I will not forget you! forgotten. 16 See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands;    your walls are ever before me. 17 Your children hasten back,    and those who laid you waste depart from you. 18 Lift up your eyes and look around;    all your children gather and come to you. As surely as I live,” declares the Lord,    “you will wear them all as ornaments;    you will put them on, like a bride.

*MY INTERPRETATION: May excitement be evident all around, in the heavens, on the earth, up to the mountain top. Those who belong to the Lord, will be comforted because He is concerned about your pain and sufferings. The Place in Jerusalem where the city of David was built stated God had abandoned and forgotten them, comparing their relationship with God to that of a mother and a newborn. Stating although they felt forgotten, they would never forget about Him. To prove He has not forgotten them, He shows them His hands where He has engraved them. He reminds them that He is continuously focused on them. He reminds them of how their children returned home and their enemies left them. He instructs them to look around and see how their family is all together and that their children would make them proud.

*MY RESEARCH & REFLECTIONS OF THE PASSAGE APPLIED TO MY LIFE

Abandoned and forgotten. Sometimes when God doesn't answer my cry when I think He should, that is exactly how I feel. Have you ever been there? Despite the fact, I have many reasons to be proud of and to know He hasn't forgotten me, it is during those times when that the pain or trouble I’m experiencing has greater power over me than His love for me.

And that is exactly what the enemy would have me to think. He has intentions for my life just as God has plans for my life. If he can keep my focus off what I know is true- that God is for me, that He is always thinking about me, that He protects me and that He has given me many things to be proud of-then he has had a successful day. Our spiritual warfare occurs as a result of an intentional arrangement by an enemy of God and His children. We must be intentional in engaging in that warfare and get ready to face enemy resistance daily. I love what Stormie Omartian says in her book Prayer Warrior

“This is a spiritual battle. It is every bit as real as the fleshly battles waged on earth today, but in a spiritual war the way you do battle is to pray...God’s army is the only one where you can be deployed but you don't actually have to go anywhere. Your heart will be deployed to wherever God sends you in prayer.”

Are you ready to accept your deployment papers today?

*DEFINITIONS REVIEWED:

afflicted (of a problem or illness) cause pain or suffering to; affect or trouble.

compassion concern for the sufferings or misfortunes of others.

forsaken abandoned or deserted.:

ornaments make (something) look more attractive

Sometimes waiting is for a reason...

*THE SCRIPTURE USED TODAY

Isaiah 49:7-9 12- This is what the Lord says—    the Redeemer  and Holy One of Israel—to him who was despised and abhorred by the nation,  to the servant of rulers: “Kings will see you and stand up,   princes will see and bow down , because of the Lord who is faithful,   the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you .” 8  This is what the Lord says: “In the time of my favor I will answer you,   and in the day of salvation I will help you; I will keep you and will make you be a covenant for the people, to restore the land   and to reassign its desolate inheritances. 9 to say to the captives,‘Come out,’    and to those in darkness, ‘Be free! ’“They will feed beside the roads and find pasture on every barren hill. 10 They will neither hunger nor thirst nor will the desert heat or the sun beat down on them. He who has compassion on them will guide them and lead them beside springs of water.11 I will turn all my mountains into roads,    and my highways will be raised up. 12 See, they will come from afar—    some from the north, some from the west,    some from the region of Aswan.”

*MY INTERPRETATION: This is what the Lord of Israel had to say to the ones He gave his life for, to the ones He is dedicated. To those who are despised and regarded with disgust by other nations, he says ‘You will be noticed, and exalted by those in high positions. Simply because I am unchanging, loyal and devoted [to you] but mainly because I have chosen you.  

It is because of my kindness that I will reply [to your situation] on the day you are delivered from your sin. I will make it easy for you. I will keep you and make you the promise for others to see. When you return, you will be given back your land as well as some of the deserted land (now flourishing).

I will say to those held prisoner “come out” and to those deep in their sin “be free”. Food and beauty will abound wherever you go or look. What was once without life will now be multiplied. No one will hunger, thirst, or suffer from the heat. I will guide you and meet all your needs. I will remove obstacles before you get to them. See all my people are coming home”.

*MY RESEARCH & REFLECTIONS OF THE PASSAGE APPLIED TO MY LIFE [I have been stuck in this passage for what seems like two weeks now. I feel this sometimes happens because God his holding me in that particular piece of passage to show me something at an appointed time. There have been so many of these times while reading Isaiah, that this has seemed to happen to me. I try not to get discouraged and simply wait for the Holy Spirit to reveal whatever it is my soul needs to receive. So here it is finally. I hope it speaks to you as well.

This is what the Lord spoke to me, I am the one He gave his life for, I am the one He is dedicated to. When I am despised and hated by others, he reminds me that he has a plan -I will be noticed and elevated to higher positions simply because he has chosen me. He is loyal and devoted to me [because I have chosen to be a Christ follower]. The day I made the decision to follow him is the day I accepted the devotion He had already promised to me.

He will send answers to help me make decisions, He will protect me from harm. My life will be an example of his promises when he rights the wrongs that have been against me and restores me; when he gives me that which was once abandoned but is now flourishing; when he uses me to help others break free from bondage, when he uses me to be a light to help others see restoration is possible. It is because of his compassion that I lack for nothing, that I have been protected, that I am led and continually replenished. He is the one directing my path. I simply have to take the steps. When I am not afraid to move out in obedience and do what He has called me to do, others will follow the Christ I serve.