“I LOVE YOU!”

 Isaiah 43:1-4                    (ESV)

Israel’s Only Savior

    “[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 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.”

Many (maybe 30+?) years ago I was distraught by the predicament that I faced with the business that GOD had given me, so I went to a secluded place where I was certain GOD would be able to speak to me?  I was so “misinformed” that it wasn’t GOD WHO needed to change, but I had to remove so many distractions from my life and listen more intently for HIS direction in my life. I opened my Bible and it was at Isaiah 43, the verses listed above!  

In verse two Scripture records “WHEN you pass through the waters, I WILL BE WITH YOU; and through the rivers, THEY SHALL NOT OVERWHELM YOU when you walk through fire YOU SHALL NOT BE BURNED, and THE FLAME SHALL NOT CONSUME YOU.”  Notice Scripture doesn’t say IF you go through difficult times, it says WHEN I GO THROUGH THEM!!! I probably didn’t want to listen to what was being said, but I got back home and there was a $100 bill sent to me anonymously that took care of my family’s immediate needs for that day!!  

Could it be that ALMIGHTY GOD might have been trying to tell me that the WATER WAS going to get DEEP and that the FIRE would DEFINITELY be HOT, but HE WOULD BE WITH ME…….NO MATTER WHAT???

The “journey” I have traveled has been FAR from easy, but I AM PRECIOUS IN HIS SIGHT and HE PAID THE PRICE ALREADY for my sinful choices!  Why did HE select me to be ONE of HIS CHOSEN?  The simple words “I LOVE YOU” says it all!!!