Finding Hope: Our Savior

I have a question for you. How would you describe the way God sees you? Have you ever thought about that? Not how you see yourself. Not how others see you, but how God sees you. Well, tucked away in the 43rd chapter of the book of Isaiah is a fascinating look at God’s spokesperson, Isaiah, and how he says God sees us.

He begins this way in chapter 43, verse 1: “But now, thus saith the Lord…” That’s who is talking now. God is talking. “…He who created you, O Jacob, and He who formed you, O Israel, fear not for I have redeemed you. I have called you by name and you are Mine.” Isn’t that amazing the way God describes us? He created us. He formed us. He redeemed us. And then He calls us His own. I mean that’s an amazing look at how God, the God of the universe, sees you and me.

Now, having said that, the verses that come right after that don’t exempt us from going through difficult times. Sometimes when we think about our relationship with those we love the most, we want to take all the difficulty away from them. We want to take it so life is smooth. Well, God loves us, but He doesn’t exempt us from going through things. He says this: “When you pass through waters, I’ll be with you. When you go through rivers, you shall not be overwhelmed. When you walk through fire, you’ll not be burned.”

In each case, I’m walking through it. What I want to say is: “God, could you take me around it? Could you take me over it? Could you bypass it altogether?” But what God says is, “No, I know you. I created you, formed you, and redeemed you. You’re mine, but you’re still gonna go through difficult times.”

But then He comes out of this and says this in verse 3: “For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel…” Listen. “..Your Savior.” There it is. He has delivered us. He has saved us. And then He goes on and He says this in verse 4: “Because you are precious in My eyes, honored, and I love you.”

Don’t we all love to hear those words “I love you?” My wife and I have been married for 46 years. We still like to hear from one another “I love you.” And God – although He allows us to go through difficult times – He reminds us that He is our Savior and we’re precious in His eyes. We’re honored by Him and He loves us.

So as you go about your day today, could you keep that in mind as an encouragement, that the God of this universe made salvation possible through His Son Jesus. He has created you. He has formed you. He has redeemed you. He has called you His own. And He’ll walk with you.

I don’t ever want to lose sight of how He feels about me. I’m precious to Him. You’re precious to Him and He loves you. That should be an encouragement for us as we walk through the day.

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