CAN YOUR PERSPECTIVE OF GOD MAYBE WRONG?

(A series in the book of Isaiah: Chapter 9)

I have lived a very empty life for a very long time. For more than a decade of my life, I never have understood when the preacher would say, “We have everything we needed in Christ.” I could not see how, why, and when can Jesus be my everything. I have lived a life doing my best to make Jesus happy in my understanding. I was so busy doing all good works to make Jesus happy with me. It never dawned on me that in the first place what I do never amounts to anything. As a matter of fact, what I do is not even what He needed from me. Do you know what He really needed? It is only to believe in full faith that He can be my everything.

I believe what has happened to me is the normal trend or run of man’s thoughts towards God. Someone raised up in the concept of "do this for God, and be like this for God," I believe one would end up thinking that "in myself, I have the solution for my problems, for my life’s issues, I can even decide for my life, I am independent of anyone to make a decision for my life." God becomes an extra supporter, that if "I would need something really really big, then I would call Him." When God is introduced in the form of doing this and do that for God, one will never have the opportunity to know God in all the works he or she does for God.

What opened my mind was when I saw God from a different perspective. It is on the perspective of God’s love. When my vision was shifted FROM seeing what God wants me to do TO WHO GOD IS AND HOW BIG IS HIS LOVE. Like what the song says, "all things faded away" WHEN MY EYES WERE TURNED TO CHRIST'S LOVE.

Yes, friends believe it or not, when my study is on how big God’s love is when I started to see the Bible in the light of God’s love my life started to change.

I am still 100% willing to obey GOD but not because I am told to, but because it is my gratitude for the new life of understanding my God, my Deliverer, my Sustainer, and my Friend. When you see your life changed—you know how horrible you are, how heavy are those struggles, and how dark is your life—there is nothing so hard for you to do to give back the life you have received.

Looking at Isaiah chapter 9, this is exactly what God is trying to express with His backslidden people. He is not a God who imposes burdens upon His children. He is not a GOD who loves to find fault and catches His children's mistakes. He is a God of love. He is a God who looks after the welfare of His chosen nation, His precious children.

So, while there is still a time before the day of suffering the consequences of their evil choices, God is alluring back His children again with this greatest promise--their coming Deliverer. Isaiah 9:6-7,

“For to us, a child is born,

to us, a son is given,

and the government will be on his shoulders.

And he will be called

Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,

Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

7 Of the greatness of his government and peace

there will be no end.

He will reign on David’s throne

and over his kingdom,

establishing and upholding it

with justice and righteousness

from that time on and forever.

The zeal of the Lord Almighty

will accomplish this.”

The other half of this chapter (verses 8-21) becomes the focus of many of us--the anger of God against Israel. The anger of God is the right focus because all of them are becoming evil each and every day. Yes, this is a reality that God is never happy with His children becoming bad, He chose them to represent them but they grew to be the very opposite of Him. This is a reality that there is a sense of frustration that most of the time we see it as anger. However, when we see this chapter in the very sense of God’s love for His children. We see the first half as the best expression of God’s love. It is the best expression of God’s enduring love.

Friends, God’s love is as enduring as the flow of the river and the streams of water. God’s love is as enduring as His being. Is God angry at you when you fall? I don’t see it that way. Like how is this chapter is arranged, God’s love and God’s promise of deliverance and restoration will surely go running to you. The ill fate of the wicked is only reserved for those who will choose to declare they are not with God. But as long as you are struggling and you have that tiniest faith inside you God can always be on your side.

He is your Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, and Prince of Peace.