Seventh Day Baptist
Christian Education Council
PO BOX 1678
Janesville, WI 53547
Lift up your eyes around and see;
they all gather, they come to you.
As I live, declares the LORD,
you shall put them all on as an ornament;
you shall bind them on as a bride does.
“Surely your waste and your desolate places
and your devastated land—
surely now you will be too narrow for your inhabitants,
and those who swallowed you up will be far away.
The children of your bereavement
will yet say in your ears:
‘The place is too narrow for me;
make room for me to dwell in.’
Then you will say in your heart:
‘Who has borne me these?
I was bereaved and barren,
exiled and put away,
but who has brought up these?
Behold, I was left alone;
from where have these come?’”
Thus says the Lord GOD:
“Behold, I will lift up my hand to the nations,
and raise my signal to the peoples;
and they shall bring your sons in their arms,
and your daughters shall be carried on their shoulders.
Kings shall be your foster fathers,
and their queens your nursing mothers.
With their faces to the ground they shall bow down to you,
and lick the dust of your feet.
Then you will know that I am the LORD;
those who wait for me shall not be put to shame.”
(ESV)
—Isaiah 49:18-23
by: Ashea West.
“Those who hope in me will not be disappointed” (v.23, NIV)! This reminds me of Hebrews 10:23: “Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful” (NIV). Last week, we saw God talking about His compassion for His children and it continues this week with His promises of restoration and blessing that they could look forward to. God will not let the enemy defame His name or His character. The Israelites would be the served and no longer the servants because God will defend His character! He is the Lord and if we trust in Him, we will not be disappointed. What a promise!
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