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A huge sigh of relief could well be how you welcomed the new year, as you bid good bye to a year best forgotten in every one of our lives!. And, it is the sheer grace of God that has carried you and I to see this marvelous new morning, to give thanks unto the Father, who is always and forever good, and takes great pleasure in blessing you. And the source and channel of it is His word, as He makes it great and glorious in your life, The Lord was pleased for His righteousness sake, to make His word great and to be glorious. [Isaiah 42:21] It is the wonderful promise of God that comes to you not just for this year that has just begun, but for every day of your life, all through your life. For, mountains and hills may be removed, but His word lasts forever.
And in the shifting sands of life, how comforting it is to know that, standing on the promise of God, can see you progress and be led forward, in God’s plan for your life, though storms of doubt and fear may assail you, in your journey, sometimes, and the climate may not be conducive or pleasant. The key lies in focusing on His word of promise to you, meditating upon three aspects of it, to then apply it and see it’s fruit,
God’s righteousness
God’s pleasure
God’s word – to be great and glorified.
His righteousness:
God is always right, is the essence of it’s truth. And also flowing from it is the truth that He does what is right in your life and mine. Therefore, flawed as you and I, and every person on earth is, and more often than not, also saddened by life’s unjust and painful circumstances, He is the good God who is also powerful, to turn it into good. Moreover, He takes pleasure in doing so, for He is a loving God, and does it all out of His great love, the love with which He has loved the world, to give His Only Begotten Son.
And it is His Son, Lord Jesus, whom God the Father, has spoken forth of, to say , Behold, My Servant whom I uphold; My Elect One, in whom My soul rejoices, I have put My Spirit upon Him; He will bring forth justice to the Gentiles. [Isaiah 42:1] The above prophecy, today stands accomplished, and your responsibility therefore, lies in appropriating the truth of it in your life, by grace and through faith.
Christ – the Savior of the world:
It establishes also that Christ, is not a Christian God, as the Gentile world often presumes Him to be. The God who brings justice to all peoples, is the God of the universe, revealed in Christ, as the Savior of the whole world. ‘Come to Me, all who are weary…’ is His all inclusive invitation, in order to take His yoke and learn from Him, to find rest in one’s soul. [Matthew 11:22] He waits with open arms, declaring His nature to be one that is gentle and humble in heart. It fulfilled the words of the prophet Isaiah, who hundreds of years earlier had painted a beautiful picture, describing the wondrous nuances of it.
The gentle Savior:
He will not cry out, nor raise His voice; Nor cause His voice to be heard in the street. [Isaiah 42:2] Man, is underneath the mask of outward pleasantness, a highly complicated being. And, he is also fragile and breakable. The past season has only served to reveal, how weak and helpless man is against the onslaught of the enemy. He is born into a sinful world, needing a Savior, to redeem him, offering forgiveness of sins. And it is what the Lord Jesus has done, to stretch forth His Hand through Calvary’s Cross, having lived a sinless life, but going through every travail that besets a human being, to know, understand and minister to the one in need as no one else can, in His compassion and grace. And gentle He is therefore, in His approach and touch that heals your bruised soul, of pain on the inside of you, from wounds that are old, and look healed on the outside, but still hurt within you. He is your gentle Savior; yours’ and of all who choose to put their trust in Him.
And it is in a beautiful imagery that the Lord’s nature and attribute is portrayed as a gentle and compassionate Savior, who knows fully well, How much you can endure, A bruised reed He will not break; And a dimly burning wick He will not snuff out; Until He brings justice to victory. [Isaiah 42:3] The psalmist David, a man after God’s own heart, even as a shepherd boy, displayed the compassionate and gentle heart of God. For, when one sheep belonging to his flock was caught by a lion, he went after it, risking even his own life, to rescue it. He could so easily have left it to it’s fate, to take care of his remaining flock. For, it was a single lamb; and obviously would have been in a badly mangled and bruised condition, hanging on to life by an extremely slim thread. But David did not give up on it. [1 Samuel 17:34,35]
And it is so very true that you and I were in the place of the lamb. For, the devil had us by our neck. But, the gentle Savior, proving that meekness is power under control, rescued and redeemed us from the grip of the evil one, to heal our wounds, and restore us to wholeness, that is the peace that can only come in Him. And, while in the dominion of darkness, even you may tend to give up on yourself, but He never will. He remains faithful, even when you are faithless, for He cannot deny Himself. He is a faithful God. And He also pleads for you, speaks on your behalf, when nobody else will. How welcome indeed it would be, when you find yourself holed up in a corner, for it seems that the whole world is against you!
It is how the prophet Isaiah has described the damaged condition of the suffering people to be; people who desperately needed the healing touch of a gentle Savior, But this is a people robbed and plundered; All of them are snared in holes, And they are hidden in prison houses; They are for prey, and no one delivers, For plunder, and no one says ‘Restore’. [Isaiah 42:22] It describes so well, that one who is suffering in captivity, in the darkness of sin’s bondage, that is personified by a flickering flame, about to give up on itself, to slowly die. And in today’s climate, it becomes relevant, in the sense that, the effects of the lockdown could have changed your outlook and perspective of yourself, and your life’s circumstances, very radically.
Therefore, entering into a new year, it could be your heart’s cry, unto the Lord, that you are in lack and in need, needing His hand of deliverance, in the immediate future, before your lamp that was once shining brightly, is enveloped in darkness, never to shine again. [Psalm 40:17] And surely and certainly, it is not the plan of God for your life. For, though you may be feeling injured and bruised in the current circumstance, and understandably so, He has already planned your onward journey, and will not give up, until He establishes it; until He brings justice to victory. [Isaiah 42:2]
He will stay the course, until the very end, for He is a faithful God. And though the past year could have been unrewarding in your life’s progress towards the culmination of God’s pan for you, it is certainly not the end. For what He has been doing silently behind the scene, during the course of a seemingly dull and dry season, will soon come to light, to be seen on stage gloriously. His word to Jacob, was that He would be with him until all that He had promised to him came to pass. And, ‘Behold I will be with you, until the end of the age’, is the Lord’s blessed assurance to you and I, His word that can never fail. [Matthew 28:20] It is also so very true, that it is a promise that only He, the Lord of heaven and earth can give to you!
And how is God going to bring His plan to pass in your life?
His promise always comes with His procedure ;- and, it is to wait upon the Lord, to hear His word. Even as it is written – He will not fail or be discouraged; Till He has established justice in all the earth; And the coast lands shall wait for His law. [Isaiah 42:4] God’s instruction and direction, always comes to you through His word, to lead you forward in the path of His plan for your life. At the crossroads of life, you will Hear His voice through His word to guide you. It is Mary’s posture that needs to be yours, sitting at His feet, to near from Him. He will direct you in the right path, as you hear from Him, through His word.
But, as it has been humorously portrayed, one cannot be like the old lady at the intersection, who usually threw her walking stick in the air and turned in the direction that the stick pointed to, as it came down. And, one day she was repeatedly throwing it in the air, because it was not falling in the direction that she wanted to take! Leaning on your own understanding is never God’s prescribed procedure.
CHRIST – the Head:
Christ is your Head, and therefore as you continually remain in His word, from Him will come your direction and instruction, that will see you planted in the place that He has appointed, the portion that has been set apart and reserved for you. It could be even in the introduction of a sermon that you hear from Him, just as John Wesley narrates his life’s experience to be; how his heart felt strangely warmed, even as he was studying the introduction of a commentary of the book of Romans! Inspiration can strike you at any point of your study, as He works out His plan in your life, by making His word great and glorious in you. [Isaiah 42:21] Prioritizing His word to be above everything else therefore, is what needs to happen in you in order to receive and walk in what God has planned for you.
Prioritizing God, and His word:
On the first day of the year, it is good to have the desire both spiritually and sentimentally, to be at the house of God, worshiping Him with a thankful heart, and hear from Him through His word. But the importance lies in sticking with it all through the year. And it is then that you will be able to experience the working out of His promise to you, to be led forward in His plan for your life. Seek Him first therefore, by going to His word, in every matter, both big and small that you may be directed and instructed according to His good, and holy will, and purpose ,for your life. For, the universe began with the Word. And, it is the great and glorious reason why it needs to take the highest priority in your life and mine, and also why our children need to be taught the truth. Anything good that your child absorbs in life, how good it would be, if it comes from watching and learning from you?!
His word, great and glorious – in your life The Lord watches over you; His eye is upon you. And it also pleases Him to make His word great and glorious in you, through His word. It is His promise, and therefore will surely come to pass in your life. His word is unmistakably great. And what is His glory? It is the manifestation of God’s power, in ways that He chooses to express it. Thus what He reveals to you in His word, He will bring it to fulfillment by a manifestation of it; and it is how God demonstrates His power, that results in His glory.
Revelation –>fulfillment –> glory:
It is also so very true that for it to happen, your revelatory vision needs to be in line with God’s word. Thus, if God reveals to you in His word that He is a Healer, He will fulfill it by bringing about a wondrous healing in you. When He reveals to you that He is a Provider, Protector, and the Source of your life, He will fulfill it all to bring about His glory, a demonstration of His power. When His revelation to you, is that, your boundary lines have fallen in pleasant places, and that you have a delightful inheritance [Psalm 16: 6] He will go on to fulfill it. And in the lives of many of His children, it has seen them being blessed with a house to live in, so that they were able to say, ‘it is the Lord’s doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes’!.
Indeed, God will make His word great in you, by revealing Himself to you, in His word, to then bring it to fulfillment in your life. It could be about your children, the work of your hands, your worship and fellowship, your finances, or anything else that is of care and concern to you.
CHRIST in you – the hope of glory:
And the greatest transformation, is when He reveals Christ in you, by making His word great in you, to then fulfill it, as a demonstration of His power, His glory. And the manifestation of it would be the brilliance of the truth in you that declares, ‘Christ in you, is the hope of glory’! [Colossians 1:27] And, may this be your experience and mine this year, and in all the coming years, all by the Lord’s amazing grace.
In the Name of Christ Jesus Amen.
