Verse of the Day 10/17

Verse of the Day 10/17

Isaiah 64:4 New Living Translation

4 For since the world began,

    no ear has heard
and no eye has seen a God like you,
    who works for those who wait for him!

Many of you can probably remember hearing one of your children say as a toddler, "I do myself".  Most likely, you said it yourself, although you were too young to remember it.  It is one of the fist signs of the child gaining a sense of independence.  As we grow we tend to become more and more independent, then gradually, especially in those "senior" years we get to a point where we realize that we can't do everything that we used to do, we do need help and sometimes become anxious in waiting for it. But as the verse points out "God works" for us.  Our duty is to wait on Him, to pray to Him, to have our eyes and minds open to what He is doing on our behalf.

To wait is not just to sit back and depend on God to work all things out.  It is to pray and wait expectantly for God to work.  Sometimes it will be directly, giving us the strength to do something that we didn't think we had the strength to do.  More often, God will be working around us, many times through other believers that He brings into our lives to help.

John Piper writes, "At first it may sound arrogant of us, and belittling to God, to say that he works for us. But that's only because of the connotation that I am an employer and God needs a job. That's not the connotation when the Bible talks about God's working for us. As in: "God works for those who wait for him" (Isaiah 64:4)....The proper connotation of saying God works for me is that I am bankrupt and need a bailout. I am weak and need someone strong. I am endangered and need a protector. I am foolish and need someone wise. I am lost and need a Rescuer......"God works for me" means I can't do the work."

For more on this perhaps you can go to Isaiah 40:26-31 where we read "strength will rise as we wait upon the Lord".

Strength will rise as we wait upon the Lord
We will wait upon the Lord
We will wait upon the Lord

Our God, You reign forever
Our hope, our strong deliverer

You are the everlasting God
The everlasting God
You do not faint
You won't grow weary.     (Everlasting God - Chris Tomlin)

Blessings,

Mike

Folllow the Verse of the Day blog at http://mikesvotd.blogspot.com

Ephesians 1:7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace.  NIV

Isaiah 64:3-5. New King James Version

3 When You did awesome things for which we did not look,

You came down,
The mountains shook at Your presence.
4 For since the beginning of the world
Men have not heard nor perceived by the ear,
Nor has the eye seen any God besides You,
Who acts for the one who waits for Him.
5 You meet him who rejoices and does righteousness,
Who remembers You in Your ways.
You are indeed angry, for we have sinned—
In these ways we continue;
And we need to be saved.