ISAIAH 62:3-5 – You shall be a crown of beauty in the hand of the Lord, and a royal diadem in the hand of your God. 4 You shall no more be termed Forsaken, and your land shall no more be termed Desolate, but you shall be called My Delight Is in Her, and your land Married; for the Lord delights in you, and your land shall be married. 5 For as a young man marries a young woman, so shall your sons marry you, and as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall your God rejoice over you.
THEME OF THE DAY. THE AMAZING LOVE OF GOD. The language in today’s scripture is beautiful. It’s the language of love, but not just any love. It is an outrageous love; a pursuing love; a resolved love; a forgiving love; a restoring love; and a love to a people who don’t deserve it. The source of this amazing love? The God who is love. And though the prophet Isaiah is writing to God’s covenant people of old, this love of God is applied to us, His new covenant people too. The God of the old is the God of the new; unchanging, forever displaying steadfast love and faithfulness to His chosen people.
But today’s scripture is more than just God’s grand declaration of His love for His people. Here is the antidote to doubt. Here is the weapon to defeat the accuser of our souls. Here is the cure to a guilty conscience beaten down by too many failures as a Christian. Here is the light at the end of the tunnel of spiritual discouragement. And here is the spiritual spark to ignite the heart and life of a weary Christian to fight another day the good fight of faith. When doubts, accusations from the devil, a guilty conscience, seasons of spiritual discouragement, and spiritual weariness attack, it is the amazing love of God which defeats ever foe, quiets every fear, and overcomes every trial. And it does so by us embracing, by faith, two things about this love of God to us.
First, the love of God is revealed by His self-proclaimed descriptions of us. There are three. God calls us, “a crown of beauty”, “a royal diadem”, and “My delight.” Combined, we get the image of us, in the eyes of God, being His royal property, highly valued, of inestimable worth, and holding the highest place of affection in His heart. Such description is cemented into our thinking by these words of the Apostle Paul – “For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:38-39). Learning to embrace by faith how God describes our relationship with Him always produces joy-producing and sin-destroying power in the believing heart.
The second thing about the love of God thrilling and stabilizing the soul is His actions toward us. God displays two actions toward His people affirming His love to them – the Lord delights in you, and your God rejoices over you. And He does so, not based on our performance, but on His character. This is freedom. God delights and rejoices over us. Why? He does because of who He is. We can live confident Christian lives knowing He really does delight and rejoice over us and that with unchanging faithfulness. He will never not delight and rejoice over us!
The amazing love of God. Believe it. Rest in it. It will be all your strength to live each day walking with the Lord in power, joy, and influence.
PRAYER: “Father, I praise You for delighting in me out of the goodness of who You are, not me.”
QUOTE: “Learn to rest in what God says of us, and how God sees us. In those places, lie our joy.”