(To Israel
Thou whom I have taken from the ends of the earth, and called thee from the chief men thereof, and said unto thee, Thou art my servant; I have chosen thee, and not cast thee away. Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness. Is. 41:9,10
Who is the seed of Abraham? It is those who are of the faith, believers in the Lordship of Jesus Christ. “Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham.” (Gal. 3:7) “And if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise.” (Gal. 3:29) So we are Abraham’s seed and heirs to the promises God bestowed on him.
Many of us come to the Lord from the farthest reaches of society: in the depths of despair, bondage, oppression and brokenness. It is in this place of need that we realize our need for a Savior, because we know we can never escape the misery on our own. But in the depths of our wretchedness His voice calls for us to come unto Him (Mt. ) and He waits for us to draw close to Him (Jm. 4:8). When we give Him our hearts and lives, we become His bondservants as He paid our debt that we could never pay (Mark ) and because we are His, He will never cast us away.
To us, His children, He says to ‘Fear not’. Why? He is with us… all of our days (Mt. 28:20). Just imagine having the greatest, most powerful man in the world, who can even command nature and raise the dead, walking with you every moment of every day. Our God is a living God (1Tm. ), and dwells with us (Eph. ) therefore we do not need to dismay when trouble hits, for we are not alone. We will never be alone again.
Our God promises He will strengthen us (physical and mental courage). He doesn’t promise to take us out of all our trials, or take them away, but God will be with us to bring comfort through them all (2Cor. 1:4) . He will protect and help us with His hand of strength and favour. We are His children, and He is our Father. We can trust Him. He loves us more than His own life…
He proved it at the cross.