Isaiah 12:1-6
You will say in that day: “I will give thanks to you, O
LORD, for though you were angry with me, your anger turned away, that you might
comfort me. “Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and will not be afraid;
for the LORD GOD is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation.”
With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation. And you will say in
that day: “Give thanks to the LORD, call upon his name, make known his deeds
among the peoples, proclaim that his name is exalted. “Sing praises to the
LORD, for he has done gloriously; let this be made known in all the earth.
Shout, and sing for joy, O inhabitant of Zion, for great in your midst is the
Holy One of Israel.” (Isaiah 12 ESV)
The day being referred
to by Isaiah can be found in Chapter 11:11, “In that day the Lord will extend his hand yet a second time
to recover the remnant that remains of his people, from Assyria, from Egypt,
from Pathros, from Crush, from Elam, from Shinar, from Hamath, and from the coastland
of the sea.” The message is
clear, it matters not where you have been taken God’s hand can bring you
back.
My mother would teach or
try to teach her children to love the sinner but hate the sin, it sounds good,
but what happens when the sin is found in your life, and it has caused a mess
in your own home? Let’s get personal, or
as my friend Kim would say, how many bought lessons does someone need before
they make corrections. For some of us
who are slow learners, we try to pass the blame to others; I call it the “if
only” and yet most of us were very comfortable with our sins till we became
exposed to the public.
But it is not the public
we should be concerned with, not even the Nathan in your life who put their
finger in your face and said, you are the one, and your sins have been found
out. Your Nathan may be a parent, a
teacher, a boss, a mate, a police officer, or the IRS; it matters not for they
are instruments of God.
May we have the heart of
these people who on that day, did not argue with God as to why He was angry
with them, but gave thanks for Him loving them too much to allow the sin of
independence to continue. You nor I need
to define sin, for God has placed in each person the knowledge of right and
wrong, and it takes being around a two year old to understand one is born with
a self-centered heart and a desire to be in charge of their world.
So will you agree with
God that on your best day you end up acting like a two year old in some area of
life, and that is what the Bible calls confession. Then do as these folks and say in your heart
and proclaim to those you come in contact with; “I will give thanks to you, O LORD, for though
you were angry with me, your anger turned away, that you might comfort me.
“Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and will not be afraid; for the
LORD GOD is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation.”
From the Back Porch,
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