{"id":72209,"date":"2025-04-10T00:01:00","date_gmt":"2025-04-10T04:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/?p=72209"},"modified":"2025-04-02T17:23:48","modified_gmt":"2025-04-02T21:23:48","slug":"israels-prayer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/israels-prayer\/","title":{"rendered":"Israel\u2019s Prayer"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Scripture Reading: Isaiah 63:1-19, Isaiah 64:1-12, Micah 7:18-20, Philippians 3:18-21<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A. W. Tozer is famous for saying, \u201cWhat comes into our minds when we think of God is the most important thing about us.\u201d Over the course of my life, I have come back to this statement many times. One of the things I love about Isaiah\u2019s prophecy is that no matter how far Israel had fallen, when the prophet looked to God, he could not help but see the Lord\u2019s steadfast love.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It reminds me of a picture hanging in my kitchen. The photo was taken on my wedding day, and it features me and my wife in a loving embrace. I\u2019ve always loved the photo. However, a few months after our wedding, I was marveling at the picture one day when I noticed a tuft of my hair sticking straight up into the air like an antennae. Now, whenever I look at this picture, I can\u2019t not see that silly tuft of hair. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s a humorous example, but that is not all unlike what was going on when Isaiah looked at God. He couldn\u2019t not see God\u2019s grace and mercy. Oh, that I would share that same vision, holding fast to the truth that no matter how far I have failed to live up to my end of the bargain, God\u2019s love would never be obscured from my view. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In our text, things had gone badly for Israel. Even though God had repeatedly led them like the good shepherd He is\u2014like a father, even\u2014they were incapable of remaining faithful to Him. Each person has rebelled against the Lord (Isaiah 64:6\u20137), and it got so bad that God had become Israel\u2019s enemy, actively fighting against them (Isaiah 63:10). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And yet, what came into Isaiah\u2019s mind when he thought about God? Even though Israel was mired in sin and rebellion, Isaiah knew that God\u2019s love is steadfast. His is not the kind of love that ebbs and flows. His love is not dependent on you living up to your end of the bargain and supplying something of benefit to the relationship\u2014even though that is so true of our human relationships. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

No, the steadfast love of God is binding, committed, pursuing, and unwavering. We celebrate and bear witness to this kind of love with the ideal of marriage\u2014we stand before our family and friends and most important of all, our God, and exchange vows to commit ourselves to our partner. We bind ourselves in the love that says nothing done or said can shift it. This love\u2014His love\u2014is not based on performance but on that promise. That is the kind of love that Isaiah couldn\u2019t help but see when he looked upon the Lord.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If God truly loves us with that kind of love, then there is nothing that can separate us from His love. We can be confident that He will hear us, forgive us, and redeem us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Written by Collin Ross<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Scripture Reading: Isaiah 63:1-19, Isaiah 64:1-12, Micah 7:18-20, Philippians 3:18-21 A. W. Tozer is famous for saying, \u201cWhat comes into our minds when we think of God is the most important thing about us.\u201d Over the course of my life, I have come back to this statement many times. One of the things I love […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":71924,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[296],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-72209","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lent2025"],"acf":{"hero_background_image":false,"related_plans":[71943],"weekly_truth":false,"grace_day":false,"share_text":"#SheReadsTruth","devotional_text":"Israel\u2019s Prayer<\/b>

\r\nby Collin Ross<\/i>

\r\n

A. W. Tozer is famous for saying, \u201cWhat comes into our minds when we think of God is the most important thing about us.\u201d Over the course of my life, I have come back to this statement many times. One of the things I love about Isaiah\u2019s prophecy is that no matter how far Israel had fallen, when the prophet looked to God, he could not help but see the Lord\u2019s steadfast love.<\/p>
\r\n

It reminds me of a picture hanging in my kitchen. The photo was taken on my wedding day, and it features me and my wife in a loving embrace. I\u2019ve always loved the photo. However, a few months after our wedding, I was marveling at the picture one day when I noticed a tuft of my hair sticking straight up into the air like an antennae. Now, whenever I look at this picture, I can\u2019t not see that silly tuft of hair.<\/p>
\r\n

It\u2019s a humorous example, but that is not all unlike what was going on when Isaiah looked at God. He couldn\u2019t not see God\u2019s grace and mercy. Oh, that I would share that same vision, holding fast to the truth that no matter how far I have failed to live up to my end of the bargain, God\u2019s love would never be obscured from my view.<\/p>
\r\n

In our text, things had gone badly for Israel. Even though God had repeatedly led them like the good shepherd He is\u2014like a father, even\u2014they were incapable of remaining faithful to Him. Each person has rebelled against the Lord (Isaiah 64:6\u20137), and it got so bad that God had become Israel\u2019s enemy, actively fighting against them (Isaiah 63:10).<\/p>
\r\n

And yet, what came into Isaiah\u2019s mind when he thought about God? Even though Israel was mired in sin and rebellion, Isaiah knew that God\u2019s love is steadfast. His is not the kind of love that ebbs and flows. His love is not dependent on you living up to your end of the bargain and supplying something of benefit to the relationship\u2014even though that is so true of our human relationships.<\/p>
\r\n

No, the steadfast love of God is binding, committed, pursuing, and unwavering. We celebrate and bear witness to this kind of love with the ideal of marriage\u2014we stand before our family and friends and most important of all, our God, and exchange vows to commit ourselves to our partner. We bind ourselves in the love that says nothing done or said can shift it. This love\u2014His love\u2014is not based on performance but on that promise. That is the kind of love that Isaiah couldn\u2019t help but see when he looked upon the Lord.<\/p>
\r\n

If God truly loves us with that kind of love, then there is nothing that can separate us from His love. We can be confident that He will hear us, forgive us, and redeem us.<\/p>","share_image_height":"640","day_number":"39","scripture":"Isaiah 63:1-19, Isaiah 64:1-12, Micah 7:18-20, Philippians 3:18-21","available":true,"ad_banner_name":"","ad_banner_image":false,"ad_banner_url":"","songs":"","key_verse":"","key_verse_reference":"","background_image":false,"background_color":"#FBF7F3","scripture_references":false,"share_image":false,"author_name":"","author_bio":"","guest_social_media":false,"show_ad":true,"ad_override":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72209","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=72209"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72209\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/71924"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=72209"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=72209"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=72209"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}