When Israel was in captivity in Babylon, they cried out
to God saying, “The Lord has forsaken me; my Lord has forgotten me” (Isaiah 49:14).
They were alone and devastated, without the sense of His presence.
Even today, weary souls can feel like that. In my
humanness, I tend to equate the presence of God with joy and pleasant emotions.
However, He says that He will never leave me or forsake me. My emotions are not
the proof of that; His character and faithfulness make it so. Besides, He is an
omnipresent God who loves His people enough to die for us.
Yet there are times when life presents great challenges
and I have to remind myself of His promises. He is here with me, whether it
seems so or not. This is the value of the written Word of God. Without it, how
would I know His mind? How would I know what He says and that what is true when
my emotions deny such realities?
This morning’s reading takes me to this verse,
particularly the last sentence. God is reminding His people Israel, who were in
captivity, of His plans for them and their restoration.
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. (Isaiah 49:23)
As I read it, I thought that I really do not care if
anyone bows down to me or licks the dust of my feet, but I suppose if I was in
bondage, I might. I’m reading The Hiding Place, the story of Corrie ten Boom
and her imprisonment during WWII. She may have felt a desire for vindication, or
to have these people bow to her, even though much later God granted her the
grace to forgive those who held her captive.
This verse promises no shame for those who wait for God.
Yet Corrie and her sister trusted Him and were put to shame, at least for
awhile. I’m thinking that the verse is not about shameful circumstances. Christians
are not exempt from those. Instead, it is about never being ashamed because of
waiting on God. Eventually, He will fulfill His promises and no one who trusts Him
will finish their life saying that they are ashamed of their faith. Even in the
darkest places a person could be, as Corrie was in the camps during the
holocaust, God did not forsake her. She learned that in ways that most of us
will never experience.
Eventually she was vindicated and released, telling her
story and blessing millions who have read it. This encourages me as does this verse
from Isaiah. God wants me to wait on Him, trust Him. Life can be difficult at
times, and I might even experience horrible things, but in the end, I will
never be put to shame for trusting God.
Lord, truly faith is a precious gift. My trials are
nothing like those who are put in tiny cement cells simply for calling You their
God and naming the name of Jesus Christ. Yet even if that happened, Your promises
hold true because You are true. You never leave or forsake Your people. In the
end, we are more than conquerors because of the One who loves us.
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