Passage: Isaiah 43:1-7
Israel’s Only Savior
1 But now thus says the LORD, he who created you, O Jacob,
he who formed you, O Israel:
"Fear not, for I have redeemed you;
I have called you by name, you are mine.
2 When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;
and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you;
when you walk through fire you shall not be burned,
and the flame shall not consume you.
3 For I am the LORD your God,
the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.
I give Egypt as your ransom,
Cush and Seba in exchange for you.
4 Because you are precious in my eyes,
and honored, and I love you,
I give men in return for you,
peoples in exchange for your life.
5 Fear not, for I am with you;
I will bring your offspring from the east,
and from the west I will gather you.
6 I will say to the north, Give up,
and to the south, Do not withhold;
bring my sons from afar
and my daughters from the end of the earth,
7 everyone who is called by my name,
whom I created for my glory,
whom I formed and made."
Journal: God is always about the business of saving His people. He is building a family, a church, through the redemption and adoption of His children. There is no more beautiful of a declaration than to hear from God that "you are mine." [v. 1b -- "Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine."] We will face great suffering and trials in our life, for the "water" and the "fire" are threads woven through the fabric of life. It is the depth of the valleys that accent the majesty of the peaks. [v. 2-3a -- "When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you. For I am the LORD your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior."] There is great accountability involved when one is a child of God, when one is "called by [His] name." It is His glory that He has shared with His redeemed family, and it is His glory that we are to boldly proclaim and profess to a fallen world. [v. 7 -- ". . . everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made."]