April 4th

I love the irony of Isaiah 64:1-2 compared to Isaiah 65:1, “Oh, that You would tear open the heavens and come down…”  God’s answer to Isaiah 64 is in the very next chapter in Isaiah: “I permitted Myself to be sought by those who did not ask for Me; I permitted Myself to be found by those who did not seek Me. I said, ‘Here am I, here am I,’ To a nation which did not call on My name” (Isa. 65:1).

Even while we are walking in our sin, God pursues us for the purpose of redeeming us.  This is the great theme of the Bible: God seeks and saves the lost.

What we learn from Isaiah (and Psalm 23) is that God’s grace and love is infinitely bigger than our sins and failures.  If we read between the lines of Isaiah 64:1-65:1, we read that God is good and we are not; this is the point of Romans 2:4, “But do you suppose this, you foolish person who passes judgment on those who practice such things, and yet does them as well, that you will escape the judgment of God? Or do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness and restraint and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance” (Romans 2:3–4)? 

It was and continues to be God’s great love, rich mercy, and sufficient grace that compels the Lord of the 23rd Psalm to pursue you.  If you are a Christian, it is owing to God’s great love, rich mercy, and sufficient grace that keeps you: “What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things” (Rom. 8:32)?  What our Lord gives us is Psalm 23:2-3a, “He lets me lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside quiet waters. He restores my soul...”   

I will be preaching on Psalm 23:2-3a this Sunday, and oh boy is it full of so much encouragement for the one who belongs to the Shepherd!  I look forward to seeing you this Sunday in our 9AM and 11AM worship services.

Grace,

Pastor Keith