Isaiah 51
God continually reminds his people of what He has done for them. He calls to His people in the first verse by saying to them, “Look what I have done for you. Remember from where you once were.” God has His people remember the specific things He has done for them. Like how God brought them out of Egypt, or how God provided a sacrifice for Isaac instead of his own son. You see when we feel like God has led us in the desert just like the Jews felt, we need to remember that God always has a way out, that God always has a plan to save His people.
Maybe you feel right now like God has led you or your family out in a desert. That God has set you up to fail. That’s how the Jews felt when they stood at the base of the Red Sea, with Pharaoh’s people right on their tail to come kill them. But you see our God does some amazing things when we have no where else to turn. God always has a way out, and sometimes God’s way out is something that isn’t even imaginable. Just like His people at the Red Sea, he actually parted the sea to redeem them. What we need to do if we feel like we are just stranded in the desert waiting to be killed is to have faith that God has a plan, that God will provide a way out.
The reason God always tells His people to remember what God has done is because we can so often think that we need to do something. We need to not reflect on ourself to find the answer, we need to look the the cross. Paul said that he chose to know nothing except Christ and Him crucified. You see all our hope, and all of life’s answers reside in the Cross. You don’t know what to do with your life, you don’t know where to go — look to the Cross. Set yourself to focus less on yourself and to focus more on what Christ has done.
Jesus told His disciples to seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and everything else would be added to them. What does that mean for us? Well seek first Jesus’ rule and reign in your life as your Lord and Ruler, and focus on the righteousness that we receive by His atoning sacrifice on the Cross. Is Jesus your Lord today? Do you contemplate on the cross and what it truly means? Christ died and rose again to pay for our sins once for all. We need to continually remember what Jesus has done for us two-thousand years ago on the cross. Just as God through Isaiah told His people to reflect on the things He has done for them, so to we need to reflect on what Christ has done for us on the Cross.
