Focused Recall ~ Isaiah 63

“Then they remembered the days of old, of Moses his servant…” Isaiah 63:11a ISV

              Were you high upon a hill to personally observe the miracle of the parting of the Red Sea that allowed the Israelites to escape the final display of Pharoah’s wrath?  Were you standing within the crowd that gathered around the rock at Horeb to see water come gushing forth to hydrate God’s people?  Were you present in that great throne room of Egypt to witness Moses’ staff suddenly writhe as a snake?  The obvious answer of course is no, none of us were present to personally witness these miracles of God delivered at the hand of Moses some 3,300 years ago.  So the grand questions poses, how does one know about such events and even more specifically, how can these events be relevant and even impactful in our spiritual lives over 3,300 years later?

              I’ve heard those that doubt God classify His Word, the Bible, as nothing more than a story book.  Simply a collection of entertaining, fanciful stories.  And well, in a way, they would be correct.  God, and praise Him for it, left us a collection of stories that shows Him at work to collect, redeem, and sanctify His creatures to Himself through Himself.  Throughout 66 books that comprise the Old and New Testaments, we hold the stories of just how God achieved such a monumental task.  The real question, however, is not how you choose to intellectually classify these stories…but what you are doing with them today…spiritually.

              Our study verse above comes from the 63^rd chapter of the book of Isaiah.  Isaiah was a prophet of God called by God to deliver a very certain Godly message to the Israelite people.  The 17 books of prophecy found in the Old Testament are divided into major and minor books, a classification that simply uses the length of the book as its determining factor.  And of the 5 major prophetic books Isaiah is the most major of them with his book coming in at a whopping 66 chapters.  And within each of those chapters you find Isaiah doing what all God’s chosen Old Testament prophets do, call God’s people out of idolatrous sinful behavior and back into a righteous relationship with Him.  And to do that, a large part of a prophet’s job was to accurately point out future events of Godly correction to those that were in disobedience to the Lord.  The point being that God’s faithful, now aware of said future events, could have the opportunity to repent and turn back to God before the harsh corrective event occurred.  But when they refused to repent and were forced to endure the corrective event, God would also send restorative, hopeful messages to His people that He loved so much.  And one such message is what we find in our study verse above.  A message of hope for His stiff-necked people that were in Babylonian slavery…a message that simply called His people to do one thing…remember how God previously rescued His people through the many miracles at the hand of Moses.

              The Israelites in Babylonian slavery would have received the prophetic words of Isaiah approximately 850-900 years after the events of Moses actually occurred.  That’s a long time.  Considering that length of time and the lack of a written book of Genesis (and that the people could not read even if they had one), that equaled a lot of generational story-telling.  Fathers and mothers telling sons and daughters about how Moses raised his staff to then see God part that massive body of water so His people could escape the terror of their enemy.  Grandfathers telling their grandkids about the plagues of God released by Moses upon a hard-hearted pharaoh that refused to release God’s people.  Aunts and uncles telling nieces and nephews about how God led His people through the desert for 40 years as a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night.

              There is no doubt that the Bible is a tremendous book of stories.  But the real question lies in what you truly believe about those stories and whose hand is at work within them.  Do you simply see them as a collection of colorful, fantastical details that never actually happened, or do you see them as what they truly are…what God did many years ago?  You see, the biggest difference in the individual that reads and gleans from the Word of God is not the eyes or mind that processes black ink on white paper, but the heart that hears the Words. The heart of one that has placed faith in Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Savior has a gift, a helper that others that do not believe cannot possess.  And that helper is the very Holy Spirit of God.  And it sounds rather over-simplified, but folks, God’s Holy Spirit makes all the difference in understanding God.

              And just what is the call to action for those that believe in Christ and have the indwelling of God’s Holy Spirit?  Remember.  As the Israelites were suffering the harshness of Babylonian slavery, God issued words through Isaiah for them to simply remember.  Remember the stories of how God had rescued their repentant ancestors 800 years prior, and then have that same faith in God that He can and will do them again.  And by the way, that is just what God asks of us today.  To remember.  Remember that the same God that rained down manna from heaven and fed His people for 40 years in the desert, is at work today, ready to physically and spiritually feed those that call Him Lord.  Remember that the same Almighty God that defeated the Amalekites as Moses kept his arms raised, is ready to fight your battles for you. Remember that the very same God that called Moses into His service through a burning bush is actively calling others into His service today.  Into service as missionaries, pastors, teachers, evangelists, and servants.  Remember in a way that is more than simply intellectual recall…remember with a Holy Spirit-fueled faith that God is ready to do it again. God still does miracles today but only the eye that is trained to see them will truly behold them.

Today, no matter what trial or tribulation may have you in bondage, remember the goodness and greatness of what God has done in your life, and then faithfully pray and watch for Him to do it again.  That brothers and sisters…is real faith.

Blessings ~ Dan

“I remember the days of old; I meditate on all that you have done; I ponder the work of your hands.” Psalm 143:5 ESV

“Remember the former things of old; for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me” Isaiah 46:9 ESV

“But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.” John 14:26 ESV  

"on a hill", Cholula, Puebla, Mexico