Isaiah 55 Study: God Hasn’t Forgotten About You
“So will My word be which goes forth from My mouth;
It will not return to Me empty,
Without accomplishing what I desire,
And without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it.”
(Isaiah 55:11)
Have you ever exaggerated while telling a story? Or said things that don’t really matter or have much use?
I’m sure we can all admit to either of those tendencies. It’s easy to talk, but not everything we say is productive. But that’s not the case with God.
In today’s verse, we’re learning about the power of God’s words.
Every single word He’s spoken in Spirit and Word is productive: it produces something. Not only that, it produces precisely what He planned from the beginning.
That should make us all do a double-take at our Bibles. God has told us plainly what He will do - and it will happen. Imagine that was true for you and me, everything we said would happen.
That might be a terrifying thought. We don’t always have good intentions. We’re angry and say things we regret or speak when we should be listening. These aren’t our greatest moments and we like to forget that side of us exists.
But that isn’t true of God: what He says will happen. And His intentions are always pure, loving and good.
Some of His promises He’s already fulfilled in our life and we don’t always see it, while others are yet to come.
What does this make you feel? Excited? Maybe, scared?
Our response to this truth reveals what we feel about God. If we don’t believe He’s fully good, we won’t trust Him. So, when we hear all His promises - they fall flat on us. If we believe Him to be true that His words will come to pass, that may terrify us because we don’t believe Him to be really good or loving. Or maybe we don’t believe Him at all, and His promises sound as empty as the answers to our prayers we used to throw at Him.
If He can’t be for us what we need now, how can we expect Him to come through for future things? I get this line of thinking, I’ve been there myself. Many years of crying out to Him, seemingly with no response.
I believed that if He was good, it was only to those “other people” – not for me. While resisting Him, I pushed Him away. Since He didn’t answer my prayers in the way and timing that I wanted, I didn’t trust Him.
Years later, I realized all the ways He was protecting and loving me from afar. I thought He left me, but He there all along.
Truthfully, I still struggle with what He’s doing now. I still have moments when I want to scream at Him asking Him “why?” I don’t understand a lot of what He does and the timing in which He does it.
What changed for me was my realization of His character. He is patient when I demand Him to answer my prayers in my ways. He’s gracious when I leave Him and come crawling back. He waits for me, even when it hurts Him, while I look for other things to satisfy me.
But He’s always there. He never changes. He is the same today as He was yesterday.
When we know God to be true to His character, Him accomplishing what He set out to do should be very good news to us. It assures us that no matter how long, difficult and unjust this world can be - He remains the same.
He’s promised many good things to those who choose to follow Him. Here’s just a few examples:
He will never leave you – “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” (Hebrews 13:5)
He will give you peace – “You will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are steadfast.” (Isaiah 26:3)
He will guide you – “I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go.” (Psalm 32:8)
He will strengthen you – “Those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength.” (Isaiah 40:31)
He will provide for you – “My God will meet all your needs according to His riches.” (Philippians 4:19)
He will return for His people – “I will come back and take you to be with Me.” (John 14:3)
He will forgive you – “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us.” (1 John 1:9)
He will make all things new – “Behold, I am making all things new.” (Revelation 21:5)
When we feel He’s too preoccupied or has forgotten about us, these truths remind us that He will do what He’s promised to do. He cannot lie, it’s against His character.
Maybe, He hasn’t left us afterall. Perhaps, we’ve stopped looking for Him.
How can we learn about His character if we never take the time to discover Him?
