Isaiah 12 says...

Today's verses are the six verses of Isaiah 12 which reads,

1 - Then you will say on that day, "I will give thanks to You, O Lord; for although You were angry with me, Your anger is turned away, and You comfort me. 
2 - Behold, God is my salvation, I will trust and not be afraid; for the Lord God is my strength and song, and He has become my salvation." 
3 - Therefore you will joyously draw water from the springs of salvation. 
4 - And in that day you will say, "Give thanks to the Lord, call on His name.  Make known His deeds among the peoples; make them remember that His name is exalted." 
5 - Praise the Lord in song, for He has done excellent things; let this be known throughout the earth.
 6 - Cry aloud and shout for joy, O inhabitant of Zion, for great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel.

Thanksgiving is approaching and many times our focus is on food, family, friends, provisions and country and all those things and people are good to take time to stop and to give thanks to God and also many times to each other.  We can never be too thankful or grateful in our lives.  It keeps us humble before the Lord and others.

This passage squarely puts our thanksgiving directed on the salvation of the Lord.  "God is my salvation" and "He has become my salvation" is the object of the thanksgiving to be given.  It is something to be proclaimed "in song" and with volume, "cry aloud and shout for joy."  It is to be made known to others in a way that they will remember His name.

The question is:  do we include this specific thanksgiving in our list of things we are thankful for?  I know that we should not just limit it to the last Thursday of November but do we let it be known what God has done and that God is doing something in our lives?  It might change the whole conversation around the Thanksgiving table or in front of the TV or at the store shopping the sales.

Make it a point to give thanks to the Lord for the salvation that has been granted to you and provided to you through Jesus Christ the Son of God.  And if you get to sing about it - sing!  And if you get to shout about it - shout!  And if you get to tell an event of God to another - do so exalting His name!

"...for great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel."

 Pastor Adam
A simple man serving a great God and the local pastor of Stillwater Community Chapel (stillwater-chapel.org). We are in our 38th year of full time ministry. God directed us to this local body of believers on the Western Range of the Rockies to grow with them in mission and mindedness of Christ.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Connect a bit of Scripture with a bit of life - Spurgeon

     I heard this phrase today along with another that if you connect a bit of Scripture with a bit of life, it will end up effecting all of your life.  This came up in my study of the book of James and specifically the verses dealing with not just being a hearer of the Word but also be a doer of the Word.  It is all about application.  I can't look at preaching the Word without giving steps of applying the Word.  It really is an incomplete sermon if I don't.      Many times I think it has to be big and many points and given cute aliteration that makes it snappy and I think easy to remember and fun to write down.  Reality is, if I would make it a bit of Scripture connected to a bit of life and just that it would probably accomplish much more.  How much time I spend on the opening statement and lame joke and research and introductions and how many points and the closing statement and so little time on connecting the bit of Scripture to the bit of life.      So I guess I ha
Read more

Galatians #15 - Galatians 6:11-18 - "On The Road Again..."

Image
  Another week closer and it involves some more travel for the Wolfgangs.  I feel like the Willy Nelson song, " On the road again... "  I don't know if I agree with the next line though. " ...I can't wait to get on the road again. " One of the members of the church in Wisconsin calculated that I will travel well over 10,000 miles to make this transition.  Traveling mercies prayers please. Last Sunday we will look at Paul's final words to the churches in Galatia.  He brought them the gospel (good news) message of Jesus and what resulted were churches forming throughout the region.  The letter is to defend that message that our salvation comes from and is in Christ alone.  Christ's sacrifice on the cross was sufficient for the forgiveness of our sins.  The summary statement of the letter is found in  Galatians 6:15 (LSB) .  " For neither is circumcision anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation. "  Translated another way earlier in  Ga
Read more

Sermon prep and maybe a video...

     James 4 has brought up some interesting study.  First, "the quarrels and fights among you."  Those are usually worse than you think even though we try to minimize them.  The source is simpler than you think because it is coming from within you.  The solution is easier than you think because the solution that James gives is that we need to humble ourselves before the Lord.  Any sincere resolution is specific and brief.  Beware of lengthy resolutions that usually include explaining it away or excusing some of the behavior.      As I have seen before, the words are a sign of the heart.  I read this week that if we have a critical heart we usually start by speaking evil of another to ourselves.  Then we progress to speaking evil of another to that person with a running tally in our heads of all their wrongs.  Finally, we speak evil of another to others and broadcast in a way that we are thinking that we are helping.  Giving judgment is always easier than giving mercy.  I
Read more