Isaiah 44:1-5

Here is something for you to do: ‘’…now listen…’’ (1). Don’t switch off the phone! Always stay alert to hear (and act on) God’s voice. Position yourself to be in a place where you will be most able to receive God’s communications. Remember that ‘’if you want to meet God everywhere you must meet Him somewhere; and if you want to find Him all the time you must find Him some time.’’ If you know someone, and their phone is always off, or on silent, it can be frustrating. You want to get a message through to them, but they are not in a position to hear from you. Don’t be like that where God is concerned.

Here are some things for you to know:

  • You are God’s ‘’servant’’ (1, 2, 5). So if you hear His instructions you will want to convert them into actions. ‘’Do whatever he tells you.’’ (John 2:3). You are His possession; not just His employee. ‘’That one will write on his hand ‘GOD’s property’… The Message (5).
  • You are part of His elect. He has ‘’chosen’’ you (1, 2, 5): ‘’Israel, my personal choice.’’ The Message. (1).
  • You are His creation (2). Your life has great significance. You are made in His image. You matter to God. You have a purpose in the world. You are not a ‘waste of space’.You are the product of choice, not chance.
  • God doesn’t want you to be afraid (2). He doesn’t want your life to be ruled by a spirit of fear. Why would it be when you have such a good Master?
  • The Lord will help you (2). If your help is going to come from the Maker of heaven and earth you have to say: ‘What help! What a Helper!!’
  • The Lord will enable you to become what He calls you to be: ‘’Jeshurun’’ (2) means ‘upright’. God’s purpose is to make us holy and He will help each of us to get there.

Here is something for you to believe (3-5. For similar passages of promise see also 32:14-18, 35:1-4; 41:17-20).I would summarise it like this: it is that God wants to pour out His Spirit in reviving, renewing, refreshing blessing. Further, He wants to bless your children and all your descendants. If there is a condition to the promise, it is probably that God looks for ‘thirsty’ hearts (3a). Compare this to what we saw yesterday in 43:22 about the importance of earnest spiritual desire. By and large, I think it’s true to say that you tend to get what you go for in the Christian life. Of course, Isaiah was writing about the blessings to be poured out on the returning exiles, but He was also looking forward to the era of the Messiah (the time in which we now live) in which many people from all over the world will become believers. Verse 5 seems to suggest that many who are not Israelites will say, ‘’I belong to the LORD’’ and will call themselves by His ‘’Name’’ (see Isaiah 43:7, Psalm 87:4-6). This very day, as we live in a dry and thirsty land (spiritually speaking) let’s cry out to God for the outpouring of His Spirit and ask for many new Christians to ‘’spring up like grass in a meadow’’ (4). There is a plentiful supply of God’s Spirit available to the desperate soul. May we see an abundant crop of growth in the church!

‘’The book of Acts traces part of this current of life through the thirsty land’’. Derek Kidner: The ‘New Bible Commentary’, p.658.

Prayer: ‘’Come Lord Jesus, pour out your Spirit we pray.’’