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The Bible Breakdown
Isaiah 49: You are Not an Oops
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The More We Dig. The More We Find.
Well, everybody, welcome back to the Bible Breakdown podcast with your host, pastor Brandon, today, isaiah, chapter 49, and today's title is you Are Not an Oops, you Are Not an Oops. This reminds me of a time when I was talking to this family and they had three teenagers and one child that was two years old I mean, think about this. I don't remember the exact age, but I think it was something like 14, 16, and 19, and a two-year-old and I just was looking at them and I was just laughing and I just said what happened? I mean, what's going on here? And they looked at that little two-year-old and, smiling, happy, they said, oh, that's our oops baby, that's the baby that we didn't mean to have and but we're just so happy to have her, you know, and and even though it was, was funny and we, we joked about it at the same time. When I thought about it later, I thought, man, I hope they don't say that in front of that baby, especially as it gets older and is able to understand.
Speaker 1:But I've also talked to people who were adults and they would say, yeah, I was the mistake. You know, I was the one they didn't count on, and it was this thought of the mom and dad, just as a joke, saying, yeah, we weren't planning on having you, and if you do it lightheartedly, that's okay. But there are some people who, when it comes to their walk with God, comes with their purpose in life. They feel like they are God's oops baby. They were God's mistake. God didn't mean to have you and now that he does, he's not so sure what to do with you. Or he had you, he had a plan for you, and then you think you messed it up and now you think that you're God's black sheep or oops baby. Well, I hope by the end of this chapter you will realize that couldn't be further from the truth, and we're going to get into all that in just a moment.
Speaker 1:But if you like what we're doing here, make sure you like, share and subscribe to the YouTube channel and the podcast. Make sure you're leaving us a five-star review on the podcast it really does help and make sure you're doing two things for me today. Number one go into the Bible Breakdown discussion on Facebook. They're doing an amazing job writing devotions every single day. But then also go into thebiblebreakdowncom. It is a website that we're currently building and we're putting all of these chapters on there and the goal is to slowly go back through there and, for every chapter in the Bible, give you additional resources so you can study more deeply about God's word, and there's actually places down there where you can comment on each chapter. If you have resources that you would like to suggest to people, so help us build a resource-rich website for people who want to dig deeper, because, as we always say, the more we dig, the more we find.
Speaker 1:Well, if you have your Bible, want to open it with me to Isaiah, chapter 49. God's Word teaches us in Isaiah that the overall theme is God is our salvation, and God saves us from so many things, primarily from our sin, but he also can save us from bad thought patterns and really feeling like we're used goods or we're used up or we're a mistake. None of that's true. That because of Jesus, he makes all things new in our life, and what we're going to see today is that God has a purpose for us, even in times when we feel overlooked or we feel forgotten. God has not forgotten us, and we're going to see this, as God tells the nation of Israel that they still have a purpose in his great plan. So let's read this together and let's see what God's word will say to us today. You ready.
Speaker 1:Isaiah, chapter 49, verse 1, says this listen to me. All you in distant lands, pay attention, you who are far away. The Lord called me before my birth, from within the womb. He called me by name. He made my words of judgment as sharp as a sword and he has hidden me in the shadow of his hand. I am like a sharp arrow in his quiver. He said to me you are my servant, israel, and you will bring me glory. I replied, but my work seems so useless. I've spent my strength for nothing and to no purpose. Yet I leave it all in the Lord's hands. I will trust God for my reward. That is powerful.
Speaker 1:We're going to come back to that in a minute, verse five and now the Lord speaks, the one who formed me in my mother's womb to be his servant, who commissioned me to bring Israel back to him. The Lord has honored me and my God has given me strength. He says this is what the Lord says. I will help you, I will protect you and give you to the people as my covenant with them. Through you, I will reestablish the land of Israel and assign it to its own people.
Speaker 1:Again, I will say to the prisoners come out in freedom. And to those in darkness come into the light. They will be my sheep, grazing in green pastures and on hills that were previously bare. They will neither hunger nor thirst. The searing sun will not reach them anymore, for the Lord, in his mercy, will lead them. He will lead them beside cool waters. I will make my mountains into level paths for them. The highways will be raised above the valleys. Level paths for them. The highways will be raised above the valleys. See, my people will return from far away, from lands, to the north and the west and from far south is Egypt. Sing for joy, o heavens. Rejoice O earth. Burst into song, o mountains, for the Lord has comforted his people and he will have compassion on them in their suffering.
Speaker 1:Yet Jerusalem says the Lord has deserted us, the Lord has forgotten us, and this is what God says, verse 15. Never can a mother forget her nursing child, can she feel no love for the child she has born. But even if that were possible, I would not forget you. Wow, I just want to pause for a moment. I don't think I've ever done this in a podcast before. I just want to pause. I want to read that again because I feel so strongly someone's listening to this right now and you need to hear that again that you have said to the Lord in verse 14, the Lord has deserted us and the Lord has forgotten us. But this is God's word to you, straight from God's word. Verse 15, never, never can a mother forget her nursing child. Never Can a mother forget her nursing child, can she feel no love for the child she has born? But even if that were possible, I would not forget. You Receive that today in Jesus' name. Verse 16. See, I have written your name on the palms of my hands. Always in my mind is a picture of Jerusalem's walls and ruins.
Speaker 1:Soon your descendants will come back and all who are trying to destroy you will go away. Look around you and see, for all of your children will come back to you as surely as I live, says the Lord. They will be like jewels for a bridal, ornaments for you to display. Even the most desolate parts of your abandoned land will soon be crowded with your people. Your enemies who enslave you will be far away. The generations born in exile will return and say we need more room. It's crowded here, then you will think to yourself who has given me all these descendants? For most of my children were killed and the rest were carried away into exile. I was left all alone. Where did these people come from? Who bore these children? Who raised them for me? This is what the sovereign Lord says. See, I will give a signal to the godless nations. They will carry your sons back to you in their arms and they will bring your daughters on their shoulders. Kings and queens will serve you and care for all your needs. That's disgusting, but the Lord says the captives of warriors will be released and the plunder of tyrants will be retrieved. For I will fight those who fight you and I will save your children. I will feed your enemies with their own flesh. They will be drunk with the rivers of their own blood and all the world will know that I, the Lord, am your Savior and Redeemer, the Mighty One of Israel, man. That is so amazing and it's so powerful to see.
Speaker 1:I want to go back up to verse 4, and we're going to finish our time together with the question of the day. But this was the first part of this, where God was saying he was going to do great things. But then he said that the people were thinking how could God do something great? Because verse 4, it says, my work seems so useless. How could God use me? Because it seems like what I'm doing doesn't matter. It says I have spent my strength for nothing and for no purpose. Yet I leave it all in the Lord's hands and I will trust God for my reward.
Speaker 1:Can I tell you, I've met so many people who feel like that. God didn't have a clue when he made them and so now he has nothing for them to do. They don't have a purpose, or they had a purpose and they messed it up, and so it might as well be the same thing. Can I tell you, the book of Ephesians says that God had a purpose for you, and then you were born to fulfill that purpose. And with all the love I can say, I want to say this If you think that you're strong enough to destroy God's plan for your life, then, honey, you're not that strong. You are not strong enough to destroy God's plan for your life. Now we may take detours, we may go the wrong way, but God has a way of getting us back to where he wants us to be and you're, you are not strong enough to destroy God's hope for you and that if it takes your whole life, he's going to constantly be course correcting you to get you back to where he wants you to be. Also, I know people who have said exactly what verse four says.
Speaker 1:But what I'm doing is useless. I don't have a great job. I work at this place, or I work at that place. I don't have a great family. I don't have a family. I'm single, or I just me and my wife, or I'm an empty nester now, or my kids aren't following God. Everything I don't. I'm useless.
Speaker 1:Can I tell you, in the kingdom of God you're not useless, you're priceless. God has a plan for you and he's given you gifts, talents, abilities and opportunities. There's never been anybody in all of creation just like you. You ever went to Lowe's and there's there's what? Three, four primary colors? I'm colorblind so I don't know exactly Three, four primary colors. But you go to Lowe's or you go to Home Depot and you look in the paint aisle and you can see an endless amount of ways that those few primary colors can be mixed in different measures to create an endless amount of colors. That's what God does. He takes the same basic raw ingredients and he makes everybody completely unique in their own way, which means God has a unique plan for you.
Speaker 1:And we need to stop watching movies and think that that's what success looks like. Success does not mean saving the world from Thanos or, you know, defeating Darth Vader and all that. That's fantasy. The real world in the real world, most of the time we don't get to write our own legacies. In the real world, most of the time we don't get to write our own legacies. Most of the time we don't get to see what we truly accomplish. That's left in the hands of others far after we're gone.
Speaker 1:But what we can do is be faithful, because we wildly overestimate what we can do in the short term and we wildly underestimate what we can do through a lifetime of faithfulness If we will determine to serve God with our life, to show integrity and to trust him and do what verse four says. Yet I leave it all in the Lord's hands and I will trust God for my reward. It doesn't matter what anybody else thinks. If you're following God's word the best you can and you're living close to him and doing the best you can to honor him, then this is God's word for you If you feel like God has deserted you. The Lord has forgotten you.
Speaker 1:Verse 15 says never Can a mother forget her nursing child, can she feel no love for a child she has born. Even if that were possible, god says I would not forget you. So here's the question of the day Is it possible that God doesn't want you to do something great? He wants you to be faithful and let him do something great through you. Let him define what greatness is and let him do it. Your job is to be faithful.
Speaker 1:Let's pray together today, god, thank you so much for today. Thank you, god, that you're with us and you're for us in more ways than we can imagine. Help us, lord, to stop defining our worth based on what the world says and define our worth based on what your word says, and to trust you in all things. In Jesus' name, we pray amen, amen. What God's word says in Isaiah, chapter 12, verse two, say it with me. God has come to save me. I will trust in him and not be afraid. The Lord is my strength and my song. He has given me victory. I love you. I'll see you tomorrow. For Isaiah, chapter 50.
