As the World Turns

Scripture Verse that Caught my attention today: Isaiah 49:14-16 But Zion said, “The LORD has forsaken me,
my Lord has forgotten me.”
15 Can a woman forget her nursing child,
or show no compassion for the child of her womb?
Even these may forget,
yet I will not forget you.
16 See, I have inscribed you on the palms of my hands;
your walls are continually before me.

Observation: In days of old God’s people felt like they had been abandoned. They had been carried off into exile and more or less felt like they would be left there for good. Even though their ‘punishment’ of exile was deserved—for they had indeed been very unfaithful to God—they felt more than punishment; they felt abandoned. But just as their spirits are broken comes a most reassuring word. To paraphrase, “surely those with intimate connections (like mothers to children) will not be able to forget the child of their womb. Oh wait, sometimes they do! But I (the Lord) will not forget you!”

Application: Who are we, really? We are people who largely forget the bigger picture and our place within it. Sometimes we are overly secure in ourselves, mistakenly thinking the world revolves around us. Sometimes we are overly insecure in ourselves and, again, mistakenly think the world revolves around us…as if our particular problems are the largest in history!

Here’s the irony; the world does revolve around us! Why? Because God is so invested in us that God can’t bear the thought of leaving us alone forever…or at all!

Yes, the ancient people of God were in exile. Yes, in Old Testament theology (the way one thinks about God), they understood themselves to be there as a form of punishment for their unfaithfulness to God. But God is not limited to human ways of thinking. A tit for a tat is not God’s ultimate way of being God. God’s investment if far deeper.

How deep is this investment? Hmmm…Isaiah says that God says, “I have inscribed you on the palms of my hands.”

Although this part of the message may have been lost on the people of Isaiah’s day, Christians can’t help but see this palm inscription concept come to full fruition in Jesus. The One who offered that sweet exchange of his death for our life and his life for our death took upon his own hands the wounds/inscription by which we are healed.

One would think that our life would therefore revolve around him. One would think that we would be so grateful, so thankful, so blessed, and so touched by God’s cosmic act of love through Jesus that our world would revolve around him. Ah, but mothers (and fathers) sometimes forget those most dear to them.

Thankfully, God is of a higher order. God will not forget. And so, in God’s loving eyes, whether we are in a form of exile or a form of the promised land, God’s world really does revolve around us. Wow!

Prayer: Lord, I really don’t see how we can be all that interesting to you. But for some reason you can’t get us out of your mind. And that’s a part of faith that I especially hold dear. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

(readings today included: Isaiah 46-49 and 1 Peter 5)