Isaiah 49 (click here to read the passage)
By the way—include a link to the passage so that you can read the passage as it ebbs and flows through the phrasing. To paste the passage here would take up a page or more the way the passage is formatted.
Ok, so we're skipping ahead a bit in Isaiah, but let me give a quick summary of chapters 47 and 48.
Chapter 47 is all about the fall of Babylon at the hands of God as He redeems and delivers His people. “Redeem” is a great word talking about the work of God. God is the one who acts, without our involvement, to bring us back to Him. He does that here with the Jewish people, saving them from Babylon (a prophecy about the future), and then ultimately with Jesus for all of us.
Chapter 48 shifts gears a bit and centers on the continued stubbornness of God’s people. Look at 48:4, and you’ll understand the situation of God’s people at this moment. However, the awesome thing is that God still loves and redeems the people, and the Lord is telling the people before it happens so that God gets all the glory as Israel is freed.
Now, in chapter 49, we have an awesome word from the Lord. Isaiah is speaking about his calling, and verse 6 points to the calling of all who entrust their lives to the Lord in that the Lord expects His people to be a light for the world, which, by the way, is also something that is repeated by Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5.
The rest of 49 is all about the restoration of the people and the victory of God. Again, we have a double prophecy: the people in exile in Babylon will be restored to Jerusalem, and it also speaks of Jesus and God’s ultimate restoration for us all through the giving and sending of His Son.
Verse 22 is the key to the chapter. God is for all of us in all ways, and again we have the repetition of one of the biggest themes in Isaiah—trust. We really, really need to trust God. It is so easy to say, “I trust the Lord,” but living out that trust in all that we do is quite challenging at times. Starting today, right now. Talk to God and tell Him that you trust Him, that your day is in His hands, and that you will go where He wants you to go and do and say whatever will bring Him glory.
It sounds so simple, but I want you to say a simple prayer each day this week, “Lord, I am trusting you. Open my eyes to what you want me to do today. Use me to bring you glory.”
Try that for a week and see how God might use you.
God bless you, and know that you are constantly in my prayers.
Scott