Isaiah 44:1-28

NOT only because He has chosen me from others, in Jesus His beloved Son; nor merely because I am redeemed from among men, by the precious blood of Immanuel; but also because I have surrendered myself up into the Lord's hand, with all I have and am, to be taught by His Spirit, ruled by His word, supplied by His providence, and devoted to His praise. The Lord claimed me, and I was enabled to acknowledge the claim; He has a right to me, and that right should never be forgotten by me. Am I...

WHAT tenderness, mercy, and love are here! Friends forget us, relatives are careless about us, and we sometimes fear our God has forgotten us; but here He assures us that we shall never be forgotten of Him. Our names are in His book, our Representative is always before His throne, and we are the objects of His constant care. He cannot forget us while Jesus pleads for us; and if He does not forget, He will never neglect. There is only one thing He is ever said to forget, and that is our sins;...

"I will pour My Spirit upon thy seed, and My blessing upon thine offspring." Isaiah 44:3

Our dear children have not the Spirit of God by nature, as we plainly see. We see much in them which makes us fear as to their future, and this drives us to agonizing prayer. When a son becomes specially perverse, we cry with Abraham, "Oh, that Ishmael might live before thee!" We would sooner see our daughters Hannahs than empresses. This...

"Thou art My servant: O Israel, thou shalt not be forgotten of Me." Isaiah 44:21

Our Jehovah cannot so forget His servants as to cease to love them. He chose them not for a time but forever. He knew what they would be when He called them into the divine family. He blots out their sins like a cloud; and we may be sure that He will not turn them out of doors for iniquities which He has blotted out. It would be blasphemy to imagine...

When a believer has fallen into a low, sad state of feeling, he often tries to lift himself out of it by chastening himself with dark and doleful fears. Such is not the way to rise from the dust, but to continue in it. As well chain the eagle's wing to make it mount, as doubt in order to increase our grace. It is not the law, but the gospel which saves the seeking soul at first; and it is not a legal bondage, but gospel liberty which can restore the fainting believer afterwards. Slavish...

Attentively observe THE INSTRUCTIVE SIMILITUDE: our sins are like a cloud. As clouds are of many shapes and shades, so are our transgressions. As clouds obscure the light of the sun, and darken the landscape beneath, so do our sins hide from us the light of Jehovah's face, and cause us to sit in the shadow of death. They are earth-born things, and rise from the miry places of our nature; and when so collected that their measure is full, they threaten us...

God's ability to forget sins that have been covered by the blood of Christ is one of the most soul-satisfying truths in Scripture.

It is a great wonder when we read, "As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us" (Psalms 103:12). It is a marvel that we can say with Hezekiah, "Thou hast cast all my sins behind thy back" (Isaiah 38:17). It boggles the...

A backslidden condition is often like cancer; we don't know we have it. We can grow spiritually cold so gradually that we don't realize how carnal we have actually become. Sometimes it takes a tragedy, a crisis or the voice of some prophet of God to awaken us to our desperate need. Only then can we claim God's promise, "I will pour water on him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground" (Isaiah 44:3).

I am in need of revival when I...

" Let little children come unto me," said Christ, and says it still. God delighteth in mercy; and delights in the hearts of little children because there is a greater readiness in them to receive his mercy than in adults. There are fewer hindrances; less to repel the Spirit of God; less of the world. The world is indeed there, and it developed itself with an astonishing rapidity, oh, then, how great the responsibility of those who have the direction of the young. How knowest thou, parent,...