“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 YEARS AGO (probably 30+ years!) I drove to a country park searching for answers on what to do with my life.  I was certain that GOD led me into the insurance industry a few years prior, but I was at a crossroads in my career where the decisions I was making would be critical for my future.  I needed to HEAR from GOD in an UNMISTAKABLE manner!  I literally opened my Bible to Isaiah 43 and read where Isaiah was being told by GOD ALMIGHTY about Israel’s Only Savior!!!

GOD never PROMISED that the way would be without conflict and confusion for HIS CHOSEN PEOPLE!  I AM HIS CHOSEN as well!  Little did I understand how tumultuous this physical and Spiritual life would be.  A “massive brain hemorrhage” in 2007 almost took my life!  But I made a “miraculous recovery” (according to doctor’s notes) and was back on the job less than two years later!

Almost ten years later I thought I pulled a muscle in my upper chest one Saturday afternoon.  My cardiac enzymes were slightly elevated, but not bad enough for concern.  It was part of GODS PLAN for me to be kept overnight in the hospital “just to make sure” that everything was alright.  Sometime in the early morning hours they drew more blood from me and a short time later I was being RUSHED to ICU!  I WAS experiencing a Heart Attack!  The following Tuesday I was being operated on and TOTALLY was released Saturday morning!!  I was released from the surgeon three weeks later!!

Thirty plus years later I can TESTIFY that GOD has NEVER LET ME be alone through my SOMETIMES deep WATERS (Isaiah 43:2)!  As we CHOSEN are CALLED to WALK BY FAITH, we don’t have a definitive answer as to what our future holds!  But Isaiah 43:3 informs me that “I AM the LORD your GOD, the HOLY ONE of Israel, your SAVIOR.”  But Isaiah 43:4 says it all when it says “you are precious in MY EYES, and honored, AND “I LOVE YOU”!!!