“YOU ARE MINE!”

Isaiah 43:1-7                         (ESV)

“1 But now thus says the LORD, HE WHO created you, O Jacob, HE WHO formed you, O Israel: "Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, “YOU ARE MINE!”. 

2 When YOU PASS THROUGH THE WATERS, I will be with you; AND THROUGH THE RIVERS, they shall not overwhelm you; WHEN YOU WALK THROUGH THE FIRE you shall not be burned, and THE FLAME SHALL NOT CONSUME YOU. 

3 For I am the LORD your GOD, the HOLY ONE of Israel, your SAVIOR. I give Egypt as your ransom, Cush and Seba in exchange for you. 

4 Because you are precious in my eyes, and honored, and I love you, I give men in return for you, peoples in exchange for your life. 

5 FEAR NOT, for I AM WITH YOU; I will bring your offspring from the east, and from the west I will gather you. 

6 I will say to the north, Give up, and to the south, Do not withhold; bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the end of the earth, 

7 everyone who is called by MY NAME, whom I created for MY glory, whom I formed and made."”

Does GOD “cause” evil in our midst?  Did HE allow Stomach Cancer to take my younger sister out of this world in 1996?  Did HE allow Breast Cancer to escort my mom into Heaven in 2008?  Did GOD orchestrate the Brain Hemorrhage in 2007 that I experienced?  These are all “bad things” in our earthly view, but GOD used  them for HIS GLORY!

JESUS says in John 8:12 “I am the LIGHT OF THE WORLD. Whoever follows ME will not “walk in darkness”, but WILL HAVE the LIGHT of life." LIGHT is most prevalent when it exposes darkness.  Our LIGHT contrasts darkness wherever we go.  Since JESUS will never leave us nor forsake us (Hebrews 13:5), we can rest assured that wherever HE leads us, HE is with us.  

In the above verse seven, Scripture says “whom I created for MY GLORY”!  So THAT is why we were created, not to build a bigger house, or amass vast wealth, or look down our noses at those around us!  We were Created to GLORIFY HIM.  If that means my brain needs to hemorrhage, or my heart needs to be adjusted, or I just need to LET GO AND LET HIM BE GOD, that is what I need to do.  

Can GOD “cause” evil things to happen to us?  When we experience “darkness“ we can be Glorifying HIM by shining in that darkness?  We are created FOR HIS GLORY.  As long as we are in “this world”, we will SHINE BRIGHTEST when we are surrounded by darkness.    It is an honor and privilege to be used to GLORIFY my CREATOR, for HIM to declare “YOU ARE MINE”, wherever we are placed by HIM!!!