May 21, 2025

GOD’S WORD FOR TODAY:

“I revealed Myself to those who did not ask for Me. I was found by those who did not seek Me. To a nation that did not call My name, I said, ‘Here I am! Here I am!’” (Isaiah 65.1)

TODAY’S REFLECTION ON GOD’S WORD TO US:

Isaiah continues to the message from the beginning to the very conclusion of the entire prophetic word. That message is “The God who redeems will redeem.” There is a powerful message in the understanding that “God is love.” Such “love” is imbedded within those whom God has poured into “His Spirit.” It comes with the very invocation of life at conception. It is not the same as “the breath” which we breathe daily. We most certainly inhale and exhale the air that is around us. That air, however, is a part of creation and the creative process. That is the air we breathe. However, the breathe of God, ruach, is different. It is the rarified, spiritual air which transmits the essence and will of God making life out of lifelessness. Further, it is different from the anointing of the Holy Spirit which comes on every believer. That anointing serves the purpose of sanctification. Sanctification is the “setting aside” of a person, place or object for the representation of God’s being and purpose on earth. It is what happened when Isaiah was met by God in the Temple “in the year King Uzziah died.” Isaiah was transformed from “unclean,” assumed to be by his standards, to “clean,” the standards of what God establishes. God calls us according to His design and will. He sees in us what was intended to be and what will be with the surrendering to the on-dwelling of the Holy Spirit. He does not lower His standard to meet the dysfunctional expectation we may hold for ourselves. God believes in us. That is why God goes through the effort to redeem us, reform us and restore us. It is the act and process of authentic love. It is what authentic love is all about. That is why “God is love.” God is in the “redemption” business. He does not put us in the place to be redeemed. We compromise ourselves by misusing the gift of freewill and choice. We put ourselves in a place where redemption is necessary in order for hope to be realized. That hope is the realization of being “all that God intended for us to be.”

As we come to the close of Isaiah’s prophetic work, we near the eschatological and apocryphal nuance of God’s word. We are given insight to God’s “last word” for redemption. It starts with the historical evidence of God appearing and the people are amazed, as in the deliverance from Egypt. It sadly continues to the effect of their own “prosperity gospel” as the bounty of Israel and the evidence of the power of faith defeating their enemies lead them into a sense of false security. It is there in their “prosperity” that they become complacent and less faithful. I dare not say “un-religious” because faithlessness is a religion, a religious outlook, on its own. We all have a religion. It is the means by when we orient our lives with a greater goal or superior authority from which we derive the power to strive, thrive and excel. It is there that we, as mighty ones of God in Christ Jesus, must embrace the desire to be of, in and through the Holy Spirit. It is by that Holy Spirit we recognize God and are able to stay close to Him. It is by the Holy Spirit we are able to achieve the good that glorifies God and benefits those who live on earth [whether of the world or in the world.] The presence of God in our midst is what Jesus said to His disciples was the truth of righteousness. God’s presence is not dependent upon our righteousness or unrighteousness. God’s presence is independent of it but enhanced by our desire to live in righteousness. The unique part of what God reveals to Isaiah and thus Isaiah to the nations, especially the nation of Israel, is this: God makes Himself available to us! In verse one of chapter 65, we must hear the antiphonal response which is put forward. In chapter 6, Isaiah responds to the query of God, “Who will go for us? Who will represent us?” His response is “Here I am, Lord, send me!” or, as I have framed it, “Here, I AM, Lord, send me!” Now we hear God declaring to a people who have forgotten, put to the side or never knew God, “Here I am! Here I am!” It gives us the very sense of what the Prodigal Son may have experienced and heard as his father comes runny down the dusty road from the hilltop mansion who came to great him. See it. The longing father who had believed in the word of God placed in his wandering son running with his robe pulled up in one hand and waving to his son with the other. His sandals stirring up the dust and flapping beneath his feet with every step. He is calling, entreating his son, “Here I am! Here I am!” The father did not wait and assume an “I told you so” presence. The father rejoiced and was glad to see his faith in God rewarded. It was not restored to him. His son was and his son’s faith was. One who seemed to have been dead was now truly alive. This is redemption. It will be the same experience we each will experience as we near the Gates of Heaven from the four corners and catch a glimpse of the very presence of the glory of God. Out of the glory comes Christ Jesus declaring “Here I am! Here I am!” He is coming for you!

TODAY’S PRAYER IN RESPONSE TO GOD’S WORD:

Father, in these days we are finding the need to believe even more than ever before. We all have known trouble, some in greater ways than others, but You are offering us the assurance that we will not be consumed by it forever. Regardless of the “time” we are in and the “time” we have been given, we ask for Your Holy Spirit which Jesus asked You to share with us, to lead and guide and direct us in the paths we should go. Teach us what we still need to learn. Empower us to put that learning into action. Bless our actions not as a works righteousness which we know is folly but righteous works which declare Your glory and further witness the truth that can set all who believe free. Hear our prayer, O Lord, and be gracious to us in the name of Jesus. AMEN.