Julie
I love Isaiah 43. The words that God give us in this message, I believe, are meant to be comforting, and he makes bold statements about him and who we are to him. "Fear not, for I am with you." This is actually said a few times through this book, and this is something that I have carried around with me for months to use for comfort and as a reminder to turn to God in the difficult moments. "You are my witnesses." We are to tell others about how God works in our lives, this is how we witness for him and show others that he does what he says. "I, I am the Lord," this is not really the only time this is said, but he reminds us that he is the one true God and that there are no others. There is so much in this one chapter that stands out and I could go on almost line by line...I will refrain.
"Even a child makes himself known by his acts, by whether his conduct is pure and upright." I think that this line really sums up this proverb. It goes through and tells us that the way we conduct ourselves in so many different situations will affect how we are seen by God.
Michelle
43 does read as a comforting chapter. I can see why these verses would bring comfort to people. At least the first half. There seems to be alot of reminders in these chapters. God telling them that he brought them out from where they were and that he holds them in his hand basically.
This devotional with this proverb tells well what it is about, called Paybacks. It talks about how we should not seek revenge or be vengeful when we have been wronged and how our human need for vengeance can cause us physical ailments. I can attest to that. It says, "Revenge is an outward manifestation of an underlying problem: anger". But that revenge opposes the golden rule. This proverb encourages us to let go and let God deal with our enemies. Because God is just. This made me think back to some times when I really wanted those that hurt me to be hurt in some way. It is an automatic thought that comes up. When I released those thoughts to God it changed me and will change you when you let that go and pray for them instead. It sometimes has to be done multiple times and the thoughts come back from time to time remembering how you were wronged. But as this devotional shared, getting revenge may get us even with our enemies, but forgiveness places us above them. It is incredible what happens when you do this and allow God to handle those that have hurt you.
No comments:
Post a Comment