Sun.’s Devo - God’s Plan

Read: Isaiah 43:14-45:10; Ephesians 3:1-21; Psalm 68:1-18; Proverbs 24:1-2 God begins by reminding them all the miracles he did for them in the past and then tells them that they haven’t seen anything yet. He is going to do something new that they have never seen - pathways in the wilderness for them to travel, and rivers in the dry wastelands for refreshing. Israel will one day honor God as their God. To Judah, they stopped worshipping him the way they were commanded to in the law. They had stopped asking God for help but had gotten tired of waiting for him to move, and instead began living in sin. God was going blot out their sins and forget about them. From the beginning, they had sinned against God and broke his laws. To remedy their hard hearts, God was going to pour out his Spirit like rivers on their children and descendants. They will thrive and proudly claim God as their God. *** God challenges any other god to stand up to Him. He is the only God. The people foolishly carved gods out of wood found in the forests. They burned half of it and made a god to worship out of the rest. He wants them to reason how foolish this is. They trusted in something that has no power to help him. *** God reminded them that he made them and paid the price to set them free. He would expose the false prophets as liars and makes fools of fortune-tellers. God’s plan is to rebuild Jerusalem and the Temple. He chose Cyrus to do this. *** God anointed Cyrus to bring down the mighty kings and open their gates. He was commanded to level the mountains which stood for the elite leaders. He was promised hidden wealth that was secret from the world. Cyrus didn’t know the Lord, yet God chose to use him to do these things. He did this for the sake of His chosen people. We could say all this about President Trump. *** He issues a woe to those who argue with God about who he uses to do his work. I think of all the religious people who have arguments about Trump and why God would use him. God says that it is none of our business who he chooses to use. It is our duty to see it and trust in His plan. *** In Galatians, Paul explains that God commissioned him to bring the good news of Christ and salvation to the Gentile. Now they equally can enjoy God’s promises with the Jews and what was promised to them is now promised to the Gentile. God’s purpose for the church was to use them to display his wisdom to all the unseen rulers and authorities in the heavenly place. (This reminds me of how God used Job to show Satan how one of his chosen vessels would stay faithful to him.) *** We pray along with Paul that from Your unlimited resources You will empower us with inner strength through Your Spirit. Make your home in our hearts and may we have the power to understand how wide, how long, how high and how deep your love is. All glory to you who are able to accomplish through us more than we might ask or think.