“For a small moment have I forsaken thee; but with great mercies will I gather thee. In a little wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment; but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith the LORD thy Redeemer.” Isaiah 54:7-8

This is God, talking to Israel!

More specifically, to Judah!

A people who had sinned against her Lord, incurring His Wrath!

And in her dark days of punishment, discipline, correction … God encourages her with the words of this great two-verse Text.

Look at it with me:

Yes, God DID forsake (“azab” in Hebrew = to leave or depart from) His people! He admits it! (In fact, He forsook … still using the same verb,”azab” … His only Begotten Son as Jesus died on Calvary!)

BUT … that period of destitution was relatively short, quite measured! Because God here promises that he is going to “gather” His people, “re-gather” them. Our Text again, that first Clause: “For a small moment have I forsaken thee; but with great mercies will I gather thee.”

Look … a “small” moment of discipline! But with “great” Mercies will come the Revival! (Recall Habakkuk’s Prayer … “God, in wrath remember mercy.” Habakkuk 3:2)

The our Text adds even more consolation: “In a little wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment; but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee.” Wow!

Compare (contrast) “little wrath” with then (soon) coming “everlasting kindness!”

And again watch the stark difference: a “hidden Face” at first … but then “open, extended Mercy!” (A smiling Face!)

Reminds me of Psalm 30:5 … “For his (the Lord’s) anger endureth but a moment; in his favour is life: weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.” (You would think the Psalmist had been reading Isaiah!)

And I ask, just to be sure, Who is Promising this to His people? Jehovah God! “Thus saith the LORD thy Redeemer.”

And that beautiful noun “Redeemer” is “gaal,” the Kinsman Redeemer of Israel’s history, culture! (God will be the gracious “Boaz” to Judah’s tainted “Ruth” in coming days!)

We probably cannot imagine the HELP these two verses will become to suffering (and yet believing) Jews say … during the Tribulation!

Or during any future wave (it’s already building) of anti-Semitism that may sweep the world.

In fact, and I am not even a Jew … this Text is encouraging me! Because there is a Principle embedded in them that reveals God’s great, loving Heart!

God has, in fact, disciplined each of us who is truly born-again … but only in a “limited” sense! Hebrews 12:11 … “Now no chastening for the PRESENT seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless AFTERWARD it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.”

He knows what He is doing!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

Oh, we are in Good Hands!

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