Isaiah 50:1 and Isaiah 49:
15, 16
The Lord speaks here about a certificate of
divorce. Where is your mother's certificate of
divorce, He asks? The certificate of divorce
is not from the Lord. In those days a man
wrote a certificate of divorce to his wife for any thing he did not like, not just
adultery. However, here, the Lord says that He has not written out such a certificate. It is our rebellion, our wickedness, that has
caused the separation. Through what we have
done, we have written out the certificate of divorce ourselves, in departing. It not God who has written it.
We so often complain that we are in a
terrible place and that things are not going well just as God's people in Isaiah's day
were moaning that the Lord did not care for them.
The prodigal son ended up with the pigs. He left with wealth and possessions but lost
everything. It was his own doing, and not his
father's, that landed him in the situation that he was in.
Isaiah says that it was because of your sins that you were sold. God does not lack the power to save you. God can not forget us but we forget Him. Yet we blame Him.
There is the story of a landowner who went on
a journey and left his manager in charge of everything. The manager had been complaining
about Adam and Eve who had caused all the problems and hard work he had to endure. The
owner said the manager could do as he wished in the house except touch an upturned bowl in
the middle of the lounge. It wasn't long and
the manager could no longer resist and he looked under the bowl and a rat suddenly
escaped. Try as he would he could not catch it. When
the owner returned he said that the manager must never again complain about his
circumstances or say that it was Adam and Eve's fault.
We blame people and our circumstances for the trouble we are in but it is our own
sins that have caused the trouble, not others.
God has engraved us on His hands and put
walls around us. It is not Him who has written
out this certificate of divorce. Never forget what He has done for you. Christ bore your
name in His palms when He was nailed to the Cross. He does not forget you. Never forget
Him.
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