Top 5 Things I Have Learned from Isaiah

I recently began reading through and studying the book of Isaiah.  There was no epiphany or big spiritual reason why I began to study the book, I was actually in the midst of going through the New Testament (I was in Luke) when I left my notebook in St. Simons, GA on a recent trip with my family.  That may seem like a strange reason to move to a different study, but, if you know me, it is not.  I was about half way through my second 5-Star, 5-subject notebook (I love 5-Star Notebooks) and I felt like I couldn’t just start another notebook in the middle of a study.  I will pick it back up when I go back up to visit my family for Thanksgiving and get my notebook back, don’t worry.  

So as I was studying and reading about how to start a blog, a recurring theme of blog writing seems to be list-making.  People always say use a “top 10” or “top 5” list to generate interest in a topic.  Honestly, I don’t understand why this would be the case, but I figured I would give it a try anyway.  If you get a chance, comment and let me know if I should put any credence in this idea of lists generating interest or if it is just something that sounded good to one influential leader and everyone else just followed suit.  Anyway, that was a long way of getting to the purpose of this blog…What the book of Isaiah has been teaching me about GOD.  I am just reading through chapter 20 today, and here are the “Top 5 Things” I have learned:

1. We have a Savior.  Throughout the devastation and prophecies of destruction in the book, one thing stands out – WE HAVE A SAVIOR!  No matter what else happens, our GOD wins!  Our Savior comes!  You could read the book of Isaiah (as I have been) and get caught up in the negative.  This country falls, this devastation happens, these people sin, etc.   Just like you could live your life and get caught up in the negative.  This earthquake hit, this person sinned against you, this accident happened, etc.  But one thing never changes…WE HAVE A SAVIOR!  And that Savior wins.
2. GOD is definitely in control.  I don’t know if you believe in Bible Prophecy or if you believe Isaiah wrote this book or really anything else about what you believe.  Regardless, I believe this book to be the very Word of GOD, and as such, it is amazing for me to read the degree to which GOD controls everything.  He knew Israel would fall to the Assyrians, He knew about Babylon, He knew when Egypt would be defeated, He knew that eventually the whole earth would be subject to a perfect King who would reign forever, and He knew exactly when and how all of this would happen.  GOD controls everything, and I can rest in this fact, All Things New can rest in this fact, and our children will be taken care of because they are loved by the King who is in control…Wow!
3. GOD loves us.  Combine the first 2 points, and you cannot miss this.  If we have a Savior (which we do), and that Savior is GOD (which He is), and that GOD is in control (which is true), then He must love us.  He must care for us to save us.  Everything bad that has ever happened was because of us, and everything good that has ever happened is because of Him…He definitely loves us.
4. GOD calls us.  You need not even look past chapter 6 to see the idea that GOD calls His people.  He doesn’t call us to easy tasks.  In fact, He often calls us to the impossible (in human terms), but nothing is impossible for Him.  When GOD calls us, He does not call us to more time in front of the television, or more time chasing wealth/popularity/power/etc., and He definitely does not call us to be the best people we can be…He calls us to the impossible, He calls us to leave our comfort zone, and most of all He calls us to be His.  Read Isaiah 6:9-13.  Do you want to get that call?  Do you want to be called to a people who will never listen to you, to a people who are doomed and dying, and to a place that seems to have no hope?  But that is where GOD called and that is where Isaiah went. Don’t get so caught up in the idea that you hear so often today…”Well, GOD called me to this office” or “GOD called me to be right where I am and have exactly what I have” or even “You can just let GOD use you in your job or in your family, etc.”  All of those things may be true for you, I have no idea, I’m not GOD.  But I do know that I almost missed this opportunity to move down to Haiti because I wanted to be a pastor.  Because I thought, “Well GOD can use me here in America.”  It doesn’t matter where we want to be, where does GOD want us?  I could never truly explain to you how weird it is that GOD is calling me to run an orphanage in Haiti and I am more excited about this than I have ever been about anything…When you find out where GOD wants you, it is amazing.  I’m not saying it is easy (this is definitely the most difficult thing I have ever attempted), but I am saying it is awesome.
5. GOD will Accomplish His Will.  The best thing about all of this is that GOD will win.  I don’t have to worry about where money will come from, what land we should buy, how to take care of our kids, what will happen to our kids while we are here, etc.  Now, I do worry about those things – a lot.  But if everything else in this post is true about GOD, and it is, I have no reason to worry…THE GOD OF THE UNIVERSE IS ON MY SIDE, HE IS MY FATHER, AND HE DOES LOVE ME.

I hope I never come across like I have figured everything out.  In fact, I hope that I come across as someone who is so far from figuring anything out that GOD must be incredible to love someone like me because that is truth.  The only thing I truly know is that there is 1 GOD, that He is everything, and that He loves me.  What else do I really need to know?  If I have learned anything from this process about GOD and faith it’s that He truly loves us…I hope that you get that – You are loved by a Holy and Perfect GOD.  We are coming into the Christmas season (earlier and earlier every year), and how awesome is that?  There is this enhanced awareness that the GOD of the universe has come here in the form of a human.  He lived here so that we could live forever.  Let’s not waste even one second of that life with anything less than a desire to love Him!