I began the New Year reading in Isaiah. I love the book of Isaiah. I can see so much of myself in the Israelite people. They want to serve the Lord their God and yet it takes so little to derail them. Oh, how I can appreciate that! I desire, with all my heart, to serve the Lord and walk obediently to His commands and then I find myself doing the very thing that He's instructed me not to. As I read the promises, the warnings, the failures... I began to notice an element in the pattern that I had overlooked before. "But God..." These two little words kept popping up. Every time I was tempted to feel overwhelmed by the rebellion that I could all too easily identify with, a verse would begin with "but God."
Take a look at these examples:
...Was it not the Lord, He against Whom we have sinned and in Whose ways they would not walk, neither were they obedient to His law or His teaching?... BUT now thus says the Lord... "Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by your name; you are Mine." (Isaiah 42:24, 43:1)
Now it is an extraordinary thing for one to give his life even for an upright man, though perhaps for a noble and lovable and generous benefactor someone might even dare to die. BUT GOD shows and clearly proves His own love for us by the fact that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:7-8)
I could go on and on. There are many examples throughout the scriptures. I challenge you to take a look. They are precious, precious promises! For me, the icing on the cake is that we are promised a "But God" forever. Psalm 73:26 says, My flesh and my heart may fail BUT GOD is the Rock and firm Strength of my heart and my Portion FOREVER!
It doesn't get any better than that! Thank You, Lord!
