14 JAN 23 Saturday: A Closer Walk Devotional
“For I am the Lord, your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior. I gave Egypt as a ransom for your freedom; I gave Ethiopia and Seba in your place. Others were given in exchange for you. I traded their lives for yours because you are precious to me. You are honored and I love you.” Isaiah 43:3-4
This is an amazing passage of God's love and compassion for “his” people. There is a hard truth that a great sacrifice was made by God in order to make a people for himself. In the Old Testament, all the other people were rejected and the Jews were accepted. In the New Testament, God exchanged his own Son Jesus so that people from all nations would be a part of his family.
Understand that salvation is not universal, meaning that not everyone will be saved. God chose from all the nations of the world people that would be his and receive salvation and eternal life. It is given as a gift to his elect and is withheld from those that are not his elect. This is not a foreign concept in the Bible.
God did this in Genesis telling Rebekah the future of her twin boys, Jacob I love and Esau I rejected. He did this prior to them doing any right or wrong. God’s sovereign love and grace has been the same from the beginning. He has mercy on whom he has mercy. It is a marvelous thing to receive unmerited favor from God. I didn’t deserve his mercy or favor, but he gave it.
If you are God’s child, are you joyful that you are or do you take it for granted?
Reading Plan: Psalm 20, 21; Isa. 43:1-13; Eph. 3:14-21; Mark 2:23-3:6
Daily Office Year 1
No comments:
Post a Comment