Isaiah 41:8-10 “But you, Israel, my servant, Jacob, whom I have chosen, you descendants of Abraham my friend, I took you from the ends of the earth, from its farthest corners I called you.I said, ‘You are my servant’; I have chosen you and have not rejected you. So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.” Today's episode talks about how we are God's chosen people. No matter how rejected or alone you may feel, you are not alone and God has not rejected you. Music:"Adding the Sun" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
God Has Chosen You, Yes You!
Isaiah 41:8-10 “But you, Israel, my servant, Jacob, whom I have chosen, you descendants of Abraham my friend, I took you from the ends of the earth, from its farthest corners I called you.I said, ‘You are my servant’; I have chosen you and have not rejected you. So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.”
Someone told me once, whenever you are going through the Bible and you see the world Israel you can substitute your name in there. Israel is what God called His chosen people. We are also God’s chosen people. I am not sure if you have ever tried doing that, substituting your name, but it makes the scriptures more personal. In this verse you would probably substitute your name for Jacob’s name. Let’s all do that right now. Listen to the first line again putting in your name. Repeat after me, “But you, Israel, my servant, insert your name here, whom I have chosen.” So for me it would be, “But you, Israel, my servant, Catherine, whom I have chosen.” That might even be a good verse to write on a sticky note and put it somewhere you will see it often. This scripture just happens to be one that is easier to personalize, but all the scriptures are meant for each one of us individually. God is talking to all His people and at the same time He is talking to each one of His people.
This verse starts by reminding us who we are. We are God’s chosen people. It also reminds us of where we came from. God took us from the ends of the earth, from the farthest corners he called us. He saved us from slavery in Egypt. He led us out of Egypt and into the promised land. He took care of us and met our every need while were wandering in the wilderness for 40 years. One amazing part is that He took care of us for all 40 years even though it was never meant to be 40 years. He took care of us for all 40 years even though we continually turned our backs on Him and complained about everything.
Maybe you feel like you are far from everyone else right now. Maybe you feel as though you are in a deep pit and you can’t seem to find your way out. Maybe you feel as though you might as well be at the farthest corners because you feel so alone and isolated. If this is you please write this verse down and look at it multiple times a day. If you feel isolated, if you feel you are in a pit and can’t get out, if you feel all alone, you probably also feel abandoned by God. You have not been abandoned or rejected. It says right in this verse, “I have chosen you and have not rejected you. So do not fear, I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.”
God is there for you. He sees you in your struggles. He is there with you in the marriage that is struggling. He is there with you in that house where everything is chaos right now. Yes, He sees your husband or your wife abusing alcohol and He is working in that situation. Yes, He sees your parents getting older or getting sick and He is there in that situation. Yes, He sees you struggling to get back on track and He is there working in that situation too. We live in a world that is full of rejection. There are so many ways we can feel rejected in the world we are living in. We have constant connection to the whole world. If we text someone we know when they read our message, so when they don’t write back right away we might wonder why. We might start to feel rejected like they didn’t write back because they are upset with us, or maybe they didn’t care enough to write back right away. If we call someone and they don’t pick up we might wonder why they didn’t pick up. Are they avoiding my calls? Did I do something wrong? I could go on. There are many, many ways we can feel rejected.
However, God is not rejecting us. He is saying flat out in this verse, “I have chosen you, and have not rejected you.” This is amazing! If I could be anything in the world, I would want to be chosen by God. And He reassures us in this passage that we are chosen. Do you know what is so great about being chosen by God? We didn’t have to do anything to be chosen. We just needed to exist and He chose us and will protect us. That right there, is amazing to me. Something I learned in my class on Monday night, well, I guess I already knew but God reminded me, is that we don’t have to earn His love. This is something God keeps reminding me of because as amazing as I think it is, I can’t seem to remember it. I remember it in my brain. I will tell anyone I talk to that they don’t have to earn God’s love, it is freely given. I know this, I truly do, and yet I still try to earn it by doing one more thing in my day. I wonder if I am doing enough and I hear the Holy Spirit say, “It’s not about doing, it’s about being.” God doesn’t want us to “do” things as much as He wants us to “BE” with Him.
Doing things is great. I do believe He wants us to go out and do works in His name. However, those works will not make Him love us anymore and they will not get us any closer to heaven. God loves us no matter what we do and we were given Heaven by Jesus when He died for our sins. It’s not something we earn. If you feel as though you have been rejected or separated from God, please write down this verse and look at it often. God is talking to you, yes you. God loves you and He has chosen you, he has not rejected you. The verse also says “I will strengthen you and help you.” God will help you when you ask. It may not look like you imagined it would and it may not be on your timeline. Help will come though. God always keeps His word and His promises. God is already working in your situation in ways you can’t see. He is lining things up and working on softening peoples hearts. He is 12 steps ahead of us and we can rest in the fact that He said He will help us and He will strengthen us. He will give you the strength to make it through anything you face. I will leave you with God’s word’s instead of my own. Close your eyes and imagine God is saying this directly to you, because He is, “You are my servant’; I have chosen you and have not rejected you. So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.”
Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to this episode today. Lord, we thank you for choosing us and for not rejecting us. We thank you for finding us wherever we are and leading us home. Lord, we don’t want to fear, please help us to realize You are with us and that you will strengthen us and help us. Lord, we ask you to open our eyes and show us how you are working in our current situation. Help us to not feel rejected Lord. If we do feel rejected or alone please help us feel your love today. Help us to know you are there with us. Help us to lean into you instead of away from you. We are so grateful for all you do for us. You are the almighty Lord God. You are our Savior. You are the Light of the World. We love you Lord, and we ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus’ holy name, Amen!
Thank you so much for joining me on this journey to walk Boldly with Jesus. I look forward to spending time with you tomorrow. Remember, Jesus loves you and so do I! Have a blessed day!