Isaiah 51:2-3 "Look unto Abraham your father, and unto Sarah that bare you: for I called him alone, and blessed him, and increased him. (3) For the LORD shall comfort Zion: he will comfort all her waste places; and he will make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the LORD; joy and gladness shall be found therein, thanksgiving, and the voice of melody."
"Look unto Abraham your father, and unto Sarah that bare you." The
Lord is instructing His people to remember the history of their nation. Israel
began as one man and one woman, Abraham and Sarah. He is not telling them to
look to them for their strength; rather, to look back on them as to the manner
in which they have come from point A to point B. The strength of the nation
is not in those two individuals. Remember when John the Baptist was baptizing
and the people were coming out to the Jordan River? He spoke to those people,
"Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance: (9) And
think not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father: for I say
unto you, that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto
Abraham." (Matthew 3:8-9) He was telling them that just being descendants
of Abraham did not automatically secure their righteousness. Why then, did God
tell the people to look unto Abraham and Sarah? For me, the reason intended was
for them to look beyond those two and see the very One Who called them out of
the heathen land and promised them a land that would be for their descendants.
"Look unto Abraham your father, and unto Sarah that bare you: for I
called him alone, and blessed him, and increased him."
What does this have to do with us today? It is very important for us to read,
study, pray, and meditate upon the Word of the Lord. Even today, as we study
Abraham, Sarah, Moses, Joshua, Gideon, David, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John and
Paul, we can see the manner in which the Lord called them and blessed them. We
serve the same God today. He has not changed. He has not diminished in His
power, grace, mercy, and love. He still calls and blesses His people. He is
still able to give comfort. He is able to bring gardens of joy and peace out of
the wilderness of our lives. We sing praises unto the Lord because He has
revealed Himself to us in the same manner as He did the saints of old.
"In God will I praise his word: in the LORD will I praise his word.
In God have I put my trust: I will not be afraid what man can do unto me."
(Psalm 56:10-11) We do not study God's Word to deify the people; rather we stay
in the Word in order to learn more of our Lord and to properly praise His name.
Let us look beyond the people to see the hand of God.