Isa
43:2-4 (ESV)
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.
NOTE: These are
beautiful verses. They are specific to Israel, but God has used them to speak
to individual believers over the years. The verses convey the principle of the
importance to God of His people. And that principle applies to the church as
well as to Israel. We will go through hard times and it will seem overwhelming.
The waters will appear to be too high, that we might drown. The flames, which
follow, are too hot for us to handle and we worry of being burned or consumed.
But in each case, God promises to be with us. Our life, spiritually, is very
precious to him. In Israel's case, others died so that they might live (it was
a physical promise). In the new covenant, some of this is turned around. We
give our lives (physical) so that others might live (spiritually). But we lose
nothing in the exchange, physical or spiritual. Jesus says that no one has
given up house or home or fields or family--physical things--who will not
receive a hundred times more in this life and in the life to come. We don't
lose out, ever, because God is with us.
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