Isaiah gave us a message from Jesus Himself. He gave a uniform call for all to serve Him. This daily devotional looks at God is glorified through our service and how we are vindicated.
Nuggets
- God calls all men to be His servants.
- Jesus’ words were like a two-edged sword and an arrow.
- Jesus was the ideal Servant, so He glorifies God.
- God is not looking for success – He is looking for obedience.
Devotions in the Isaiah’s Message from Sovereign God series
The Israelites have been in Babylonian captivity for 70 years. Now, they are fixing to go home.
Some of them may be concerned about the condition of home. Some of them may be concerned because that has never been home to them because they were born in captivity. Some may be concerned they will fall into old habits when they get home and bring another exile down on themselves.
Some may be wondering if they were still His people.
Glossary
God told Isaiah that we are to be His servants — just as Jesus was.
Who Did God Include in the Call for Servants?
“Coasts and islands, listen to me; distant peoples, pay attention. The Lord called me before I was born. He named me while I was in my mother’s womb” (Isa. 49: 1 CSB)Bible Verse
God calls all men to be His servants. We are to imitate His true Servant, Jesus.
Don’t get me wrong. God had comforted the Israelites before we get to Chapter 49.
But this is a special message of comfort. It told them God wasn’t finished with them yet.
When we think of Israel, we don’t necessarily think of coasts and islands. I had to Google a map of Israel in Isaiah’s time to see that, yes, it did go to the Mediterranean Sea.
But just the Israelites are not the only ones included here. God included “… distant peoples …” (Isa. 49: 1 CSB). He included the Gentiles.
It makes sense that all non-Jews are included. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (Jn. 3: 16 ESV).
It is obvious that this is Jesus speaking. Meyer noted that these were the words of the Messiah, “… the ideal Jew; speaking in the name of the elect race, and representing its genius, not as warped by human prejudice, but as God intended it to be.”
Resource
Glossary
We know that Jesus was called before He was born. In fact, He was called before the creation of the universe. “Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes” (Eph. 1: 4 NLT).
Glossary
Scriptures also talk about Jesus being a two-edged sword. “For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart” (Heb. 4: 12 ESV).
Who is the Word of God? “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (Jn. 1: 1 NIV). Jesus was.
Think about it this way. We do “hear” God talk to us. He call us so He — and we working for Him — can expand His kingdom.
Then we get our own two-edged sword. Well, we do imitate Christ.
What Was Isaiah’s Message about the Sword and the Arrow?
He made my words like a sharp sword; he hid me in the shadow of his hand. He made me like a sharpened arrow; he hid me in his quiver” (Isa. 49: 2 CSB)
Jesus’ words were like a two-edged sword and an arrow. Even though we are to imitate Jesus, God hides us in the palm of His hand.
It is fitting that it is a sword, isn’t it? It is going to take a powerful weapon to cut the sin out of us.
We generally don’t think of “… he hid me in the shadow of his hand …” (Isa. 49: 2 CSB). We think of it as palm of His hand, like the Contemporary English Version translated it.
Same thing. We are safe behind God’s protection. It is our shelter to run to whether we think we need Him or not.
Same thing. We are safe behind God’s protection. It is our shelter to run to whether we think we need Him or not.
Think of it this way. Doesn’t that verse give the impression that it will just be the two of us — God and me or you. We need some alone time with our Creator.
The King James Version called the arrow a polished shaft. To me, the polished part means that there was a process to make it, and there is a process to maintain it.
No, the Sanctification Road does not maintain. It does, however, use elbow grease to get us to grow us to where we are supposed to be.
Glossary
How Will God be Glorified in Our Service?
He said to me, ‘You are my servant, Israel, in whom I will be glorified’” (Isa. 49: 3 CSB)
Jesus was the ideal Servant, so He glorifies God. He was who the Israelites were supposed to be. He is who we are supposed to be.
We are called to serve as Jesus was. Mather wrote, “But of all God’s servants in this world man ranks highest, and through his service God is glorified in a sense that He could not be glorified through the service of any other creature.”
Resource
Time and time again in His ministry, Jesus said He was here to glorify God. “I glorified You on the earth, having accomplished the work which You have given Me to do” (Jn 17: 4 NIV).
That is what we are called to do. Glorify Him. “So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God” (I Cor. 10: 31 ESV).
Ooo, baby. We feel like such failures at times. Look at verse four. “But I myself said: I have labored in vain, I have spent my strength for nothing and futility …” (Isa. 49: 4 CSB).
How many times do we talk to ourselves, biting on ourselves. We think what we are doing is not producing the results we want. We are not succeeding.
But then it goes all haywire. How many times have we said this to ourselves or unto God? “But I myself said: I have labored in vain, I have spent my strength for nothing and futility …” (Isa. 49: 4 CSB).
It is so easy to want to give up, isn’t it? We work, and we work — even for God — but we feel like we are spinning our wheels.
We feel drained. We feel what we are doing is worthless. The tasks seem overwhelming.
How Will Our Service be Vindicated by God?
But I myself said: I have labored in vain, I have spent my strength for nothing and futility; yet my vindication is with the Lord, and my reward is with my God” (Isa. 49: 4 CSB)
God is not looking for success – He is looking for obedience. That is different than what the world would think.
Look at the last part of the verse. “… yet my vindication is with the Lord, and my reward is with my God” (Isa. 49: 1-4 CSB).
We think that God is wanting perfection. “You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Mt. 5: 48 ESV). At a minimum, we look at our definition of successful.
What slips our mind is that there is a different definition of perfect. The perfected state indicates the combination of the graces which, when all are present, form spiritual wholeness or completeness. It means we have become as Jesus is. It means we have become holy, sanctified, and righteous.
Glossary
It is really hard for us — okay, it is hard for me — to believe being a failure is a success in God’s eyes.
Take heart. Look at the last part of the verse. “… yet my vindication is with the Lord, and my reward is with my God” (Isa. 49: 4 CSB).
God doesn’t call us to succeed — especially by the world’s definition. God calls us to be faithful. He wants us to listen to Him and do the tasks He has for us.
I know. You are thinking of the faith without works verse. “In the same way faith, if it does not have works, is dead by itself” (Jas. 2: 17 CSB).
The works isn’t the action we do. The works is our obedience to His Will.
Making the Connections
Service is an act based on belief in God that comes from a response of worship by acknowledging His power through our submission. Howell wrote that, “to every human life that enters the world there is a special call, and a distinct sphere of duty.”
Resource
My call is to research these old sermons, process it to see what it is telling me, and then write it and put it on the internet so you can see what it is telling You.
It can be really discouraging at times. When people don’t open the emails or don’t click on the link to actually read the devotion, I start to question if I am really doing what God wants me to do. When I look at the analytics and see how low the time on page is, I get discouraged.
I can really start biting on myself. I can get depressed at times.
I am a success because I am doing what God has called me to do.
You have your own call. It may not be to write daily devotions (and all the non-writers are going “Thank You, sweet baby Jesus!”).
But you have your own call. And you have to do it. You have to be obedient as a form of worship.
How Do We Apply This?
I love what Meyer said. He wrote, “In the mission of Jesus, the heart of Judaism unfolded itself. What He was and did, the whole nation ought to have been and done.”
Resource
We, too, are supposed to be who Jesus was. We are to imitate Him. We are supposed to complete the tasks assigned to us that further His kingdom.
Glossary
Aitken brought up a very good point. He wrote, “[God] does not strip us of our natural faculties, and endow us with others altogether distinct from these. Our natural faculties are in themselves neither good nor bad, but in every case are capable of development, either in the direction of good or of evil.”
Resource
We are made in God’s image. That is good. We looked at all of the ways every man and woman are like God.
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What we have — our spirit, intelligence, moral character, consciences, creativity, and love — can be used for good or for evil. We have the free will to choose how we will use it. Free will is the ability within us to make decisions, which determine actions that produce character.
We have to choose wisely.
We have to not get discouraged. We can do nothing outside of Christ. It isn’t me doing the writing — it is Him.
The call for us is to be obedient and serve Him. Everything else is in God’s hands.
Father God. We want to serve You to glorify Your name. We want to serve You to show our faith in You. Amen.
What do you think?
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