OUR FATHER WHOSE WORKS ARE AWESOME
From Psalm 77 verse 10;
I cried out to You, Lord hear me
I called out to You, Lord help me.
I was in distress and I searched for You
Each night I humbly lifted my hands to You
I thought to myself, with You will I agree
I will recount the miracles that you did for me
I will recall the awesome works that you displayed
And think of the path that Your right hand has made
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OUR FATHER WHO WAITS FOR HIS PEOPLE TO RETURN TO HIM
The book of Isaiah chapter 57 verse 10 says this;
You wearied yourself by such going about, but you would not say, ‘It is hopeless.’
You found renewal of your strength, and so you did not faint.
The Lord, speaking to those who rebelled against Him by offering sacrifices to false gods and interacting with the underworld and throwing off all moral restraints, observed that even though these activities wore them out and left them fatigued, they stubbornly pressed on and remained indefatigable.
Somehow, they were able to replenish their energy and keep advancing in their evil pursuits.
The Lord asked in Isaiah chapter 57 verse 11 whom His people feared so greatly that they drove themselves to their limit rather than remember their God.
“Whom have you so dreaded and feared that you have not been true to me, and have neither remembered me nor taken this to heart?
Is it not because I have long been silent that you do not fear me?
The Lord says to His people that they have not feared Him because He had been silent for so long.
Amen.
5
OUR FATHER WHO MADE A WAY FOR FOREIGN NATIONS TO BE SAVED
In the book of Isaiah chapter 56 verse 7, the Lord, speaking of the foreigners who:
says this;
these I will bring to my holy mountain and give them joy in my house of prayer.
Their burnt offerings and sacrifices will be accepted on my altar;
for my house will be called a house of prayer for all nations.”
In this verse, the gentiles or foreigners who pursued the things of God were promised access to the Lord's holy mountain and the gift of joy in His house of prayer.
The offerings and sacrifices they made would be registered and accepted on the altar of God because, the Lord said, His house would be called a house of prayer for all nations.
In fact, this is the verse that the Lord Jesus referenced when He chased the money changers out of the temple because in the context of the verse, the temple was to be sustained in reverence for it was a house of prayer to which all people on earth could come but it was instead, being maintained as a trading floor for speculative currency buying and selling which turned the holy temple of God into a den of thieves.
When Jesus chased out the money changers from the temple, He was clearing it in preparation for the nations who were going to be inducted into the family of God when they believed on the Lord Jesus and the sacrifice of His life on a cross to pay for the sins of the world.
Amen.
OUR FATHER WHO LOVES US
The book of Isaiah chapter 55 verse 3 says this;
Give ear and come to me; listen, that you may live.
I will make an everlasting covenant with you, my faithful love promised to David.
The Lord, in kindness, invites people to come to Him for He provides water to the thirsty and food for the hungry.
To those who come to Him, He counsels them to incline their spiritual ear toward Him so that they may hear Him and in hearing, their soul may live.
The Lord will make an eternal covenant with those who hear Him and it will be a covenant of the Lord's faithful and steadfast love that was promised to King David.
Amen.
OUR FATHER WHO IS THE ONLY GOD
The book of Isaiah chapter 44 verse 9 says this;
All who make idols are nothing, and the things they treasure are worthless.
Those who would speak up for them are blind; they are ignorant, to their own shame.
The Lord, speaking to His people, cautions them against the making and affirming of idols.
The Lord, in Isaiah chapter 44 verse 6 asserts to His people that He is the only God;
I am the first and I am the last; apart from me there is no God.
If the Lord is the supreme God, why should His people indulge in the work of idol makers?
Mere humans build idols out of stone and wood and then claim that their creations are worthy to be bowed down to and worshipped yet even the Lord, with vast expances of knowledge, knows of no other god beside Himself saying in Isaiah chapter 44 verse 8;
You are my witnesses. Is there any God besides me? No, there is no other Rock; I know not one.”
Amen.
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OUR FATHER WHO SENT A MESSENGER AHEAD OF HIS SON
In the book of Matthew chapter 11 verse 9, the Lord Jesus, speaking to the crowd about John the Baptist and what had drawn them to listen to him, asked and answered this question;
Then what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet.
The question posed to the crowd about John the Baptist was what had attracted the people out to the wilderness to hear him?
They had not been drawn by a reed swaying in the wind because no one would have ventured into the harsh environment to listen to the opinions of a man that changed direction with the wind.
They had not gone out seeking a person with political power dressed in the fine clothing of kings and governors. If that is what they had been looking for, they would not have gone to the desert to find him but rather to the palaces in the urban centers of power.
Jesus asked, so if not these things, what compelled the people into the treacherous terrain to listen John?
Jesus identifies the reason: a prophet.
The gravity of a prophet speaking the words of God in the desert was the only power that could pull people out of their comfort zones into the discomfort of the wilderness.
The Lord Jesus said that John was such a prophet and that he was even more than a prophet because it was him of whom it was written, in the book of Malachi chapter 3 verse 1;
“‘I will send my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way before you.’
This verse contains the words of the Father speaking to the Son about the one who would be sent to herald the sudden arrival of the Lord at His temple.
Amen.