From Birth to Death.

Photo by: Vitold Muratov

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Tiredness.jpg

“Listen to me, O house of Jacob, all the remnant of the house of Israel, who have been borne by me from before your birth, carried from the womb; Even to your old age I will be the same, And even to your graying years I will bear you! I have done it, and I will carry you; And I will bear you and I will deliver you.  Isaiah 46:3,4

I read this verse this morning and I was struck by actions of God towards us. What he speaks to Israel of old applies to us in 2015.

He has borne us before our birth. Amazing thought that God knew us before we were born. He cared about us even then.

He has carried us from the womb. From the day we were born, God has been with each of us.

He will bear us and carry us until we are old and grey. Every day of our lives we are in his thoughts.

God ends with the word "deliver."  He will deliver us from sin, from the grave and finally from this world.

In chapter 45, God says that one day we will all say, "Surely in the Lord I have righteousness and strength."

As Jesus said, "Without me you can do nothing." John 15:5  Only with the Lord in our life do we have any good thoughts or actions or any strength to do his will. I like that. It explains why I am so weak and why after I pray, I feel strong. 

Some of us were born into tragedy. Some of us were born into an abusive or unloving family. What can we think of God about that? I can only share what I know. We live in a world of sin and God cannot protect us from all of sin. Adam and Eve chose to follow Satan and he partly rules this world. Satan says he can run the universe better than God - so the universe must see if he will do that. Of course, it is now obvious he cannot. He brings death and pain everywhere he rules. As Jesus said, "He was a murderer from the beginning." John 8:44

Jesus also said, "In this world, you will have many trials and sorrows; but be of good cheer, I have conquered the world." John 16:33 One day, in heaven, we will experience God's rule and kingdom. A kingdom full of love.

Hatred of God.

"If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin." John 15:22

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin.—In this and the following verses our Lord shows the sinfulness of the world’s hatred, because it was in the face of His revelation to them by both word and work . Apart from this revelation, their sin would have belonged to the times of ignorance, which God overlooked (Acts 17:30-31). It would have been the negative evil of men who know not. It was now the positive evil of men who, knowing the truth, willfully reject it.


"If I had not done among them the works which no one else did, they would not have sin; but now they have both seen and hated Me and My Father as well." John 15:24

Pulpit Commentary
Verse 24. - If I had not done among them works which none other did Here he comes down from "Word" to "work," and indicates the lower agency, that of works, which are neither inoperative nor valueless, and which transcend all other similar deeds. They are works of the Son of God, works of creation and of healing, triumphant conflict with the forces of nature and the malice of the devil, of a kind which may be compared with, but which exceed all human and angelic ministry. They had not had sin, but now they have both seen and hated both me and my Father. The works as well as the words of Christ might have softened their hearts, but the Divine claims, which were thus pressed home upon the conscience, provoked their malice. "They took counsel to kill him;" "They took up stones to stone him." They hated God as God, and goodness and truth just because they were goodness and truth. The awful condemnation is here pronounced, "that men loved darkness rather than light." They positively saw their Father, and hated him. This is the most terrible condemnation that can be pronounced on moral beings.