November 30th
Read: Isaiah 49:23
In this verse the word ‘ashamed’ means to be disappointed in. Israel was in captivity in Babylon. Here Isaiah is prophesying that the very king who holds them in captivity will be their servant! God tells them, “Wait and see what I will do if you make Me the expectation and the very center of your lives.”
Has God ever disappointed you? Unanswered prayer? Unchanged circumstances? Have you ever felt let down by God? Many of us might have that feeling if we did not know that God’s Word is true and established in Heaven.
One of my favorite people is Ezra. In the eighth chapter of his book, verses 21-32, Ezra claims the name and protection of God to get all the people whom he is leading back to Jerusalem from the Babylonian captivity with the accompanying loads of all the temple treasure which he was returning to Jerusalem. He had told King Darius “The hand of our God is upon all them for good who seek Him; but His power and His wrath are against all them who forsake Him.” After making such a claim, he did not dare to ask for an armed escort from the king, fearing that God’s name would be brought low by evidenced lack of faith. The whole caravan arrived safely in Jerusalem, and Ezra then proclaimed, “The hand of our God was upon us, and He delivered us from the hand of the enemy, and of such as lay in wait by the way.” They had marched right by the robbers of the highway and all the enemies of Israel! GOD DID NOT DISAPPOINT EZRA. HE HAD NO REASON TO BE ASHAMED OF THE POWER OF GOD.
Could it be that we don’t bind ourselves together with God enough, so that we hinder His work in our lives to bring about those promised blessings? Could it be that we cannot see beyond our noses and have no vision or faith of what God can accomplish in us and for us?
We must look at circumstances in our lives with the perspective of the eternal value. This may have ramifications in our own life or in the lives of others. When we do this, we will have no reason to be ashamed or disappointed in God.
FRAIL VESSEL
This vessel, Lord, is much too frail
To grasp and cling e’ermore to Thee.
With my own strength I must but fail
And slip beneath the stormy sea.
‘Tis only when my willful soul
Yields up itself to Your command
That Your great love will take control
And hold me anchored in Your hand.
Prayer: Dear Lord, give me faith to keep waiting for Your answers and Your ways out of any circumstances which beset. Show me how to be one who waits upon You.
