Episode 82: Isaiah 49:14-18
Transcription
Today’s verse is Isaiah 49:14-18
But Zion said, “The Lord has forsaken me,
the Lord has forgotten me.”
“Can a mother forget the baby at her breast
and have no compassion on the child she has borne?
Though she may forget,
I will not forget you!
See, I have engraved you on the palms of My hands;
your walls are ever before Me.
Your children hasten back,
and those who laid you waste depart from you.
Lift up your eyes and look around;
all your children gather and come to you.
As surely as I live,” declares the Lord,
“you will wear them all as ornaments;
you will put them on, like a bride.”
Let’s pray together.
I confess, LORD, often I think You have forsaken me. I think I am abandoned and forgotten, lost and alone and worthless. If that isn’t the case, then why does trouble surround me so? Why do I feel so broken and so grieved? Why do the lives of myself and all around me look so troubled? I lie in bed at night, chest tight and eyes swollen with weeping. I look to the future and it seems black and terrifying. I can’t feel You and I can’t remember You. My way to You has been blocked by monsters too terrible for me to fight.
But these words bring a new light to my eyes, a long-ago feeling stirring in my heart and mind, something I can almost name. No, I can name it. It’s hope. It’s a knowledge that I am found and worthy. It’s a knowledge that I am Your child. It’s being known and it’s being remembered and it’s being chosen.
Jesus, may these words be true in my life today. May this Scripture bring me forged-in-fire and indestructible hope. Help me to believe them with all my heart and to hold on to them with every bit of strength I have left. Bring them to my mind in the watches of the night. Remind me of who You are to me when everything else tells me that I don’t know You and You have left me behind. Show me how to trust in You and Your words and Your character.
Remind me, God, that You are my Father. You are a parent who watches over their child, who constantly cares for them, whose only thought is for them, who knows that they must give their all for the betterment of this tender being under their wing. You are the one who gave me life and You will not take it from me. You will nurture it and guide it and provide for it.
Jesus, You are the example of this. You proved love forever and for all time on the cross. You gave Yourself as a sacrifice for my sin. You proclaimed to the world and all of eternity that I am Yours and that You love me. The blood and the pain that wrote my name on Your hands stands the test. You have true love and You have it for me. I am so grateful.
And so I know that there is goodness and there is joy and there is peace available. I know that even if all seems to be fraught with danger and despair, that You are still there. You are reaching for me, ever reaching, never-ceasing, constantly brimming with love and affection for me. And for all Your children.
Bring back the lost, the prodigals; draw them home. Let all who abandoned their faith remember the first love of their youth. Let all who have never known You, be grafted into the loving tendrils of your heart-tree. Reach out and wrap around them, compelling them with kindness, mercy, and grace. Let them see with eyes clear and free from deception. Let them look and know where their help comes. Bring back Your children to You, dearest Father.
And let us rejoice together. Let us be a family. Let us belong together and to You. Let us be Yours and bring glory and honor to Your name. Let us all be as the brilliant bride, shining with love and beautiful in raiment and sure in the solidity of her relationship with You. We do not have to be lost. We can be found. We can be with the lover of our souls. And we will never be forsaken. We will never be lost. We will never be forgotten.
Bind these words into my heart and mind, dear LORD. Please help me to cleave myself to them and never throw them away or let them fall to the wayside. Be my all in all. And show me Your love.
I pray this in the constant and abiding name of Jesus. Amen.
