SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR
11/8/2013 11:02 AM
My Worship Time Focus: Love and Hope to the Discouraged
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Isaiah
49:14-50:3
Message of the
verses: “The Compassionate Mother” “14 But Zion said, "The LORD has
forsaken me, And the Lord has forgotten me." 15 “Can a woman forget her
nursing child And have no compassion on the son of her womb? Even these may
forget, but I will not forget you. 16 “Behold, I have inscribed you on the palms
of My hands; Your walls are continually before Me. 17 “Your builders hurry;
Your destroyers and devastators Will depart from you.
“18 "Lift up your eyes and look
around; All of them gather together, they come to you. As I live,"
declares the LORD, "You will surely put on all of them as jewels and bind
them on as a bride. 19 “For your waste and desolate places and your destroyed
land-Surely now you will be too cramped for the inhabitants, And those who
swallowed you will be far away. 20 “The children of whom you were bereaved will
yet say in your ears, ’The place is too cramped for me; Make room for me that I
may live here.’ 21 “Then you will say in your heart, ’Who has begotten these
for me, Since I have been bereaved of my children And am barren, an exile and a
wanderer? And who has reared these? Behold, I was left alone; From where did
these come?’" 22 Thus says the Lord GOD, "Behold, I will lift up My hand to the nations And
set up My standard to the
peoples; And they will bring your sons in their bosom, And your
daughters will be carried on their shoulders. 23 “Kings will be your guardians,
And their princesses your nurses. They will bow down to you with their faces to
the earth And lick the dust of your feet; And you will know that I am the LORD;
Those who hopefully wait for Me will not be put to shame.
“A
Courageous Warrior”“24 "Can the prey be taken from the mighty man,
Or the captives of a tyrant be rescued?" 25 Surely, thus says the LORD,
"Even the captives of the mighty man will be taken away, And the prey of
the tyrant will be rescued; For I will contend with the one who contends with
you, And I will save your sons. 26 “I will feed your oppressors with their own
flesh, And they will become drunk with their own blood as with sweet wine; And
all flesh will know that I, the LORD, am your Savior And your Redeemer, the
Mighty One of Jacob."
“A
Constant Lover” “1 Thus says the
LORD, "Where is the certificate of divorce By which I have sent your
mother away? Or to whom of My creditors did I sell you? Behold, you were sold
for your iniquities, And for your transgressions your mother was sent away. 2
“Why was there no man when I came? When I called, why was there none to answer?
Is My hand so short that it cannot ransom? Or have I no power to deliver?
Behold, I dry up the sea with My rebuke, I make the rivers a wilderness; Their
fish stink for lack of water And die of thirst. 3 “I clothe the heavens with
blackness And make sackcloth their covering.’”
Dr. Wiersbe begins his commentary by writing “The Lord
comforts His people and will have compassion on His afflicted ones’ (49:13, NIV).
So sing the people of God as they contemplate their future deliverance,
but the people of the Captivity and those left in ‘the desolate inheritances’
are not so happy. Instead of singing,
they are complaining: ‘The Lord has
forsaken me. And my Lord has forgotten
me’ (v. 14, NKJV).
“The Lord assures them of His love by comparing Himself
to a compassionate mother (vv. 14-23), a courageous warrior (vv. 24-26), and a
constant lover 50:1-3).”
We will begin with the “compassionate mother.” I know that when we think of God we mostly
think of His Fatherhood, and think little of Him being like a mother, but
Isaiah 66:13 says “"As one whom his mother comforts, so I will comfort
you; And you will be comforted in Jerusalem.’”
So there is this aspect of God too.
What Isaiah is picturing here is a nursing child who is totally
dependent upon his mother, and that is what Israel needed to be, but many times
they went off on their own and thus got themselves into a lot of trouble.
The verses go on to show that God has written their names
on His hands, which is somewhat different than the High Priest having their
names as jewels on his shoulders and over his heart. We see the word “inscribed” on His hands and
that word means “to cut out, decree, inscribe, set, engrave, portray, govern.” Dr. Wiersbe points out that this word also
means “to cut into,” and this signifies it is permanence there.
Dr. Wiersbe concludes this section with these words,
“Zion seems like a forsaken and barren mother, but she will be so blessed of
God that there will be no room for her children! They will be like beautiful bridal ornaments,
not decrepit, refuges from captivity.
Once again, the prophet looked ahead to the end of the age when the
Gentiles will honor Jehovah and Israel, and kings and queens will be
babysitters for Israel’s children!”
Lord willing we will look at the other two descriptions
in our next SD.
Spiritual meaning
for my life today: Once again I see
the sovereignty of the Lord in this section along with His love, and also His
omniscience. It is wonderful to see the
different attributes of the Lord as I read His Word, for this enables me to get
to know Him better.
My Steps of Faith for Today:
Trust the Lord to help and guide me in
decisions that I must make each day.
Memory verses for the
week: 2Peter 1:1-11
1 Simon Peter, a bond-servant and apostle of Jesus
Christ, To those who have received a faith of the same kind as ours by the
righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ: 2 Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the
knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord; 3 seeing that His divine power has
granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge
of Him who called us by His glory and excellence. 4 For by these He has granted to us His
precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of
the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust.
5 Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence,
in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge,
6 and in your knowledge self-control, and in your self-control, perseverance,
and in your perseverance, godliness, 7 and in your godliness, brotherly
kindness, and in your brotherly kindness love.
8 Now if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they render you
neither useless or unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus
Christ. 9 For he who lacks these
qualities is blind or short-sighted, having forgotten his purification from his
former sins. 10 Therefore, brethren, be
all the more diligent to make certain about His calling and choosing you; for
as longs as you practice these things you will never stumble, 11 for in this
way the entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ
will be abundantly supplied to you.
Answer to our last Bible
Question: “Because he was involved in
many wars,” (1 Kings 5:3).
Today’s Bible
Question: “What did Christ blot out?”
Answer in our next SD.
11/8/2013 12:03 PM
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