The Timeless Themes of the Bible
I love the continuity of the Bible. There are so many themes that run through it across several thousand years. Of course, the primary themes all deal with His love for us.
Once we can accept the concept that He does indeed love us more than we can ever imagine then the next concept is how he keeps us.
I was reading from Isaiah chapter 49 and was reminded yet again of this. Though I think that most of us are more familiar with the passage from John 10:27-29, “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; 28 and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand. 29]My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.”
Unwavering Security: The Sheep in His Hand
Our security is in the fact that once we (the sheep) follow Him, nobody can pluck us from His hand. So many things happen in this life. Sometimes God comes through with mighty miracles and sometimes He feels so far away.
As I often discuss with my counselees, feelings are not facts! I think Him feeling far away happens when we don’t see the answers that we expect. We may not have specific answers in mind, but some kind of answer at least. So, when we don’t hear His voice or see Him acting, then we feel alone.
But when we remember that we are His and in His hand, then we can find some peace in circumstances that aren’t what we want or expect. It’s the concept of remembering and trusting that He knows better than we do, and that He knows and wants what is best for us and the Kingdom. This can be difficult to remember as humans in the flesh.
Blessed Brokenness: Discovering God’s Glory in the Ashes
As I cover in my new book Blessed Brokenness: Seeing God’s Glory in the Ashes of Life, coming to the realization that He is using us can be such an incredible blessing. It certainly helped me!
But, as I said in the beginning, this is a theme that runs throughout the Bible. The human in Christ didn’t want the pain coming His way, but would accept it for the sake of the Kingdom. Even Paul was able to put aside pain and significant suffering as He was being used to minister.
Even further back than either of those though was the time of Isaiah. In Isaiah 49:5-6 we see how Isaiah enjoyed the fact that God is using Him and knew that because God was using Him, he could rely on God to be his strength.
The Permanence of God’s Inscription
Then later, we see a verse that is clearly connected to the passage from John. Isaiah 49:16 says, “Behold, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands; Your walls are continually before Me.”
God was not talking to Isaiah here, He was talking to His people that He said forgot Him even though He never forgot them! “I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands.” The people were like tattoos on His hands. There’s an overwhelming permanence to that.
I praise God that He has had a plan for all time and that His plan was to be in a loving relationship with us for all of time and beyond.
