The God who Calls us back! (Review of Isaiah Chapters 1-9)

Over the last several months, we've been walking through Isaiah Chapters 1-9. In this post, I am pausing to reflect on the overall theme of those chapters.

Can I be honest? I have read these chapters many times, allowing the LORD to give me more revelation and understanding. 

Overall, I found the God of love who was calling His people back to Him as He still does for us today. In each chapter, we see this call by God revealing that He is the only true and living God.  

• In chapter 1, God speaks through Prophet Isaiah calling out the people's sin and calling them back to Him. 
• By chapter 6, we see God reveal Himself as the true, righteous God and everything else is idol worship. He would cleanse the wickedness from the land because it is destroying the land and the people. 
• In chapter 7-8, God tells us (through Isaiah) that His judgment will come to pass, but the people must trust Him and not their leaders or fear their enemies. 
• In chapter 9, He reveals His future plan, the HOPE of Israel and the entire world. There will be a remnant who will return to the land because the savior will be birthed through them. 

Many today may read these chapters and focus on God's judgment. However, I see this through the eyes of a parent's great love for their child, even when they have to result in a tough consequence. Let's say you have a  young adult (I actually do). Let's say they have gotten out of control and turned from your guidance to rebellious and destructive behavior. And they also live under your roof. Now, as parents, we love our children and would do anything for them (within reason), but that young adult doesn't want to hear you. They have decided that their way is right no matter how much it destroys them. 

What do you do? It's a hard answer but it's truth. You let them go. You remove them from the home, and as a result the place where they find themselves causes them to either see you as one who loves them and want the best for them, or they rebel even more at the detriment of their own life. Because they have a free will and are in fact adults, there is nothing left to do but pray. You may find yourself worrying and attempting to reach out to them, even through other people. But they still refuse and fall deeper into destruction. 

This is how I saw these chapters. I saw Israel as the rebellious young adult and God as the loving parent trying to reach them, but they had a choice to make. Like God, us parents often have the answer to help guide or even save our children's lives. It's not about control. It's about us seeing what's not real or good for them. Some parents have given up everything in an attempt to save their children. This is God. He's not this eternal authority who wants to bully us. He is our creator. He knows the way. He knows what's going to destroy us. He knows what rebellion/turning our own way can do to us. And He's the answer. The solution. So, He calls us back. Back from our own ways. Back from trusting in everything but Him. Back to restore, redeem, and deliver. Back to HOPING in Him. That's the God revealed in Chapters 1-9 of Isaiah. 

 How did Israel get so far away from God? Let's review the steps we've been following below:

1. Lies - There were lies they began to believe.
2. Truth - The lies caused them to question God's truth.  
3. Identity - When the truth was exchanged for a lie, their identity was distorted (losing sight of who God created them to be).
4. Purpose - A distorted identity leads to confusion, chaos, and misplaced  purpose.
5. HOPE - Without God's truth, identity, and direction, hope diminished. 

See the review of how they could they have gotten back:
1. They would identify the lie they believed and repent to God.
2. They would identify God's truth that replaces that lie and accept it. 
3. They would become rooted in God and seek Him to reveal and cause them to walk in who He created them to be. 
4. They would move in His purpose and obey His direction.
5. As a result, their hope and trust would increase. 


 As we continue in Isaiah, we will continue focusing on the overall themes of "Wholeness and how there is still HOPE," I want us to continue looking for the components listed throughout the chapters and keep digging deeper. Sometimes God will give us different nuggets, but we won't get too far off track.

Finally, I want us to decide that we are going to apply the steps to our own lives as we seek to draw nearer to Him in the coming weeks, months, and even years. Let's keep going! Let's keep pushing!

Thank you for stopping by the blog,
Be Blessed & Continue to study with HOPE in CHRIST! 
Denise M. Walker
Author, Minister, Founder

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