Have you ever read a scripture that made no sense to you? You read it and it just leaves you with questions: What did God mean with that? What was going on at that time? What I am supposed to learn from that? I just don’t get it!
One of those scriptures for me is Isaiah 43:4. To try to gain a better understanding, I Iooked it up in many different versions, hoping that would bring about clarity for me…
“Since you are precious and honoured in my sight, and because I love you, I will give people in exchange for you…” NIV
“Because you are precious in my eyes,
and honoured, and I love you,
I give men in return for you,
peoples in exchange for your life.” ESV
“Since you were precious in My sight,
You have been honoured,
And I have loved you;
Therefore I will give men for you,
And people for your life.” NKJV
“Others were given in exchange for you.
I traded their lives for yours
because you are precious to me.
You are honoured, and I love you.” NLT
Nope, not so much! I was still stumped, so I left it at that. Yet every time I came across it again, I would go through the same process and hoped that I would receive a different view; that somehow a ‘light’ would come on for me. But, still nothing. Until this year…
Just after COVID-19 broke out here in Alberta, Pastor Dan called us as a church and churches in Central Alberta to take 2 Chronicles 7:14 seriously.
“Then if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and restore their land.” NLT
And it hit me! Like hitting a pickle-ball with the racquet’s sweet spot. This call from God was for all of us; His people, all over the world. His world!
Now before I go on, I must say that this is how it hit me. How God opened it up for me after years of struggle with this scripture. Please do not hear me condemn you. It just finally made sense to me and I’m sharing with you what I sensed God laid on my heart. You take it, study it and ask your own questions! Don’t let me do all the work for you.
Putting these two scriptures together, I got this:
Because we, His people who are called by His name, are precious to Him; we are honoured and He loves us so much that He is willing to wait. But as He waits, others are dying, giving up their lives because we linger! We do not hurry to His call with fear and trembling to stand together as His people. We are too caught up with the lives we have chosen for ourselves. So we begin to lose our lives, at least the things that made up our lives. We lose sports, we lose our entertainment, we lose our jobs, our education, we lose our ‘normal way of life’, we lose our health and for some, they lost their very lives. And why? Because we linger to His call, or ignore it completely. Instead we wonder what He is doing, if we even question it at all. Do we really desire God to hear us, to forgive us, to heal our land?
Then we need need to act!
Oh my, this finally made so much sense in the light of 2 Chronicles 7:14. God is serious! He will wait for a time, but not forever!
We need to heed His call.
We need to humble ourselves, to repent of all the things that were first in our lives, in the place of Him.
We need to ask that He reignites the fire that we felt when we first met Him in a real way!
If we really desire God to hear us, to forgive us, to heal our land, then we need to heed His call and to act!
Oh Lord, please forgive my sins as I humble myself before You. Father. For all those lives that have been lost, the families that have been torn apart, will you please forgive me! Lord, for all the things I have allowed to be more important than who You have called me be, please Father, forgive me. Father re-ignite a first love for You in our hearts. Teach me your ways so that I can follow You, wholeheartedly.
Oh Lord, forgive me as I come back to You! Please do not let me ever to return to ‘normal’ life, but move me forward into a life completely dedicated and in line with Your will, I pray! Amen.
