Week 1 - Thursday

JOY!

Reading:
Isaiah 43 and 44

Those first four verses in Isaiah 43 have been very important to me.  There have been times when I was hurting and the promises there helped me.  I needed to know that God didn't promise that his people would never go through flood or fire.  He promised that he would go through it with them.  He would be with them.  He was with me in the flood and the fire.  He experienced it with me.  He walked me through to the other side.

At first I thought that the last 6 verses of Isaiah 43 didn't seem to fit with the grand promises in the first half of the chapter.  Then it occurred to me that God's great mercy and compassion are even more awesome in light of His people's fickleness and unfaithfulness.  Of my own fickleness and contempt.

 Chapter 44 is a cure for anybody who thinks that the Holy Spirit doesn't have a sense of humor.  The passage talking about building idols is dripping with sarcasm and irony.  It is bitter humor and taunting to be sure.  But read right, it can be pretty stinking funny.