3 December - Promises, Promises

3rd December 2018

 

Isaiah 42: 1-9

The Lord's Chosen Servant

42 Behold my servant, whom I uphold,
    my chosen, in whom my soul delights;
I have put my Spirit upon him;
    he will bring forth justice to the nations.
He will not cry aloud or lift up his voice,
    or make it heard in the street;
a bruised reed he will not break,
    and a faintly burning wick he will not quench;
    he will faithfully bring forth justice.
He will not grow faint or be discouraged[a]
    till he has established justice in the earth;
    and the coastlands wait for his law.

Thus says God, the Lord,
    who created the heavens and stretched them out,
    who spread out the earth and what comes from it,
who gives breath to the people on it
    and spirit to those who walk in it:
“I am the Lord; I have called you[b] in righteousness;
    I will take you by the hand and keep you;
I will give you as a covenant for the people,
    a light for the nations,
    to open the eyes that are blind,
to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon,
    from the prison those who sit in darkness.
I am the Lord; that is my name;
    my glory I give to no other,
    nor my praise to carved idols.
Behold, the former things have come to pass,
    and new things I now declare;
before they spring forth
    I tell you of them.”

How many times have we said, or heard, the phrase ‘I promise’, only for nothing to happen. In today’s world it has become a throwaway phrase, trite words that often mean nothing to the person saying them.

God, however, is different. When He promises something, that promise is ALWAYS kept. These verses from the prophet Isaiah are a promise from God about the future coming of Jesus to earth where He will be, as Eugene Peterson puts it in The Message: a Man who will not call attention to what He does with loud speeches or gaudy parades. He will not brush aside the bruised and the hurt, and He will not disregard the small and insignificant, but He will steadily and firmly set things right.

In this Advent season, we celebrate the coming to earth of God’s only Son Jesus, a promise fulfilled.  As Jesus walked this earth, He showed us the way to God in everything He did and everything He said.

God told us Jesus would be the Light of the World, stepping down into the darkness of our hearts and setting us free. All we have to do is let Him in.

 

Steven and Kit L