Isaiah 49:13-16 (MESSAGE)
Heavens, raise the roof! Earth, wake the dead!
Mountains, send up cheers!
God has comforted his people.
He has tenderly nursed his beaten-up, beaten-down people.
But Zion said, “I don’t get it. God has left me.
My Master has forgotten I even exist.”
“Can a mother forget the infant at her breast,
walk away from the baby she bore?
But even if mothers forget,
I’d never forget you—never.
Look, I’ve written your names on the backs of my hands.
The walls you’re rebuilding are never out of my sight.
Your builders are faster than your wreckers.
The demolition crews are gone for good.
This passage compares the love God has for us with the Love of a mother and her infant. There’s little, if anything on earth, that compares to a mother and her intimate love for the baby she nurses. But this passage goes deeper and explains that the imperfect mother will fail at perfect love in some way or another. But not God, not ever. Maybe, this Christmas season, you might feel forgotten or overlooked. Or perhaps you know someone who you suspect might feel that way.
Can you picture right now your name written on the back of the hand of the God of the universe? He says that His Love for you will never fail and promises that the walls you are rebuilding are never out of his sight. Your builders are faster than your wreckers; the demolition crews are gone for good.
Because of our Father's love for us — sending his Son whose birth we celebrate— it says those things that work against us are slower than the one that builds in us. The demolition crews, the false love that this world represents, are gone for good because of the perfect Love born in
Bethlehem, from heaven above is here. This Love that says— I’d never forget you—never.
Lets pray: God of Love, Your son, Jesus, is your greatest gift to us. Love incarnate. Help us walk in that Love during the weeks of Advent, as we wait and prepare for his coming again. Thank
You for Your unfailing, sacrificial and redeeming Love for me. Immanuel, God with us.