Israel, the nation, is discouraged. “Hard times” have come her way. Largely, though, due to her own sin, truth be told!
So, in today’s Text, she laments: “But Zion said, The LORD hath forsaken me, and my Lord hath forgotten me.” Isaiah 49:14a,b
“Hath forsaken” is “azab” in Hebrew … as if the Lord “has lost” Israel, had “misplaced” her! And “hath forgotten” translates “shakach,” meaning “to ignore!” Pretty strong charges!
But instead of retorting in anger … God lovingly responds with an apt illustration from everyday life: “Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee.”Isaiah 49:14c-15
Can a young mother “forget” her little nursing baby? Or not love the little boy to whom she recently gave birth? RARELY that could happen, one guesses! (The implication is that GOD is a better Parent than any human! God is the Perfect One! God will not forget His children!)
That’s right! I can gladly proclaim: GOD FORGETS NOTHING! Except in regard to those who are saved, washed in the Blood of Jesus … “And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more.” Hebrews 10:17, praise His Name!
Yes, revel and delight in this uplifting Truth for a minute! (“My sins are gone!”)
Then there’s even more … God gives Judah/Israel a reminder, a promise, a great fact to ponder!
“Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands; thy walls are continually before me.” Isaiah 49:16
How could God forget His people? He has etched (cut) them (their names) into His very hands! “Have graven” (in Hebrew “chaqaq”) means just that, “to indelibly imprint, inscribe, mark!”
Did Jesus have this picture in Mind? As He preached in John 10:28 … “And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.”
And wonderfully so, “pluck” here means “to seize, to carry off!” Of course not, we’re safe … we are engraved there, in His Hands!
And that closing line, about Jerusalem’s “walls?”
The walls of any ancient city were their foremost means of protection. God is saying that He knows the condition of Judah’s citizenry! Even the details! (Like the number of hairs on our head! Luke 12:7)
He has His gracious, all-seeing “eyee” on every aspect of their lives, even their city walls and gates! Proverbs 15:3 is still true … “The eyes of the LORD are in every place!”
He is even watching us … right now
Hallelujah!
— Dr. Mike Bagwell
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