205 - "God Wired Me Together This Way" Isaiah 43-45; Psalm 80

                                                                      

The Lord says:  I created you.  I formed you.  I redeemed you.  I summoned you by name.  You are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you, through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. And the fire will not burn you. Isaiah 43:1-2

When God acts, who can reverse it? Isaiah 43:13.

God formed me from the womb. No one on earth knows me like that. He wired me together this way. He will help me even when I am fed up with me. Isaiah 44:2

He'll pour water on thirsty real estate. He'll pour His Spirit on our children.  

Fear not.

This God Who has formed us is here to redeem us. And that changes everything.  

This God Who formed us is here to deliver us from idols we do not even know we have. With one hand we use a simple piece of wood to fuel a fire, to bake some bread. On the other hand, we craft that piece of wood into an idol to worship. "Is there not a lie in my right hand?" Isaiah 44:20. 

And this Beautiful God confirms the Word to us, 
fulfills the Counsel of His messengers. Isaiah 44:26.

May we hear the Counsel of messengers. Confirm Your Word to each of us through the spoken Word, the written Word, the Word made flesh in those You bring across our paths. Open our eyes, our hearts to see idols we have crafted that worship time and people and achievement and success and safety and comfort.Am I stirred by my calling or by my pain?

 "I've singled you out, called you by name, and given you this privileged work."  Am I more stirred this day by my high calling or by the pain in my life?  Isa 45:11: "Do you question who or what I'm making? Are you telling me what I can or cannot do?"  Radical Repentance needed to respond to the truth of the Gospel to advance His Kingdom.

God will never stop doing you good.  Isaiah 45:3-6.  God says: I've been carrying you on my back from the day you were born, And I'll keep on carrying you when you're old. I've done it and will keep on doing it.  So why do I act like the center of the universe is me, sometimes.

In 66 LL, the author writes about a friend of his who thinks God's Love is all about the spiritual highs he sometimes expreriences when he sobs over how empty he feels.  But those "Divine Encounters" with Your Love don't seem to be freeing him to better love his difficult wife.  He backs away from her so he can experience Your Love without interruption.  As I stood on the beach as daybreak, and watched the Morning Star open its corridor, there was the sprinkle of rain and the surreal experience of singing the Doxology alone on a pristine island beach. Just happened to be the next song on my phone.  In the midst of my pain, I could have burst open, I was so "taken" with the God of the Universe Who walked with me on the succulent sultry sparkling saturated sand!  What is most alive in me this day?  Am I more alive with other people who are "safe" and backing away from those closest to me?  Heaven forbid.  What does love look like today toward those in my life who are difficult to read and dismissive in actions toward me?  "Only those who know they are unholy, who hate their unholiness more than their pain and emptiness, experience the transforming power of My Love!"  66 LL.  That's what God is saying to me this day. 

The LORD, our God, is a Sun and a Shield. Psalm 80:2 - Stir up Your power. And come to save us! O God, restore us. And cause Your face to shine upon us,and we will be saved. God, You made us objects of contention with our neighbors. It happened to me this very day. You've made us drink tears in large measure. Fed us with the bread of tears. Psalm 80:5 Everyone wants to be more like You. Yet, day in/day out, I hear Your children begging for reversal of their problems. And I am the first voice I hear: Don't let this cancer happen again! Don't let my kids go off the deep end. Don't let one more thing happen. And the list goes on. When we will ever be a people who will listen to God. Not a stubborn people who walk in their own devices. A people who will deal with our own waywardness. A people who will care more about our souls than our cancer. A people who will care more about our souls than our food. A people who will care more about our souls than our money. A people who will praise in the deepest fog. God, You are a Sun and Shield. You do give Grace and Glory. Help me to believe in places where I have not that You will not withhold any good thing from me.