I Believe in You

“Fear not, for I have redeemed you;

I have summoned you by name; you are mine.”

~Isaiah 43:1d-e (NIV).

Failure and defeat otherwise surround us. We fall for a million different tricks of the enemy yet still live to tell the tale. Time and again we test the Lord—we remain again.

We sense the urgency of his calling us... afresh, renewed; he calls us out of the darkness into the dazzling light and safety is again known to us. We place ourselves into his hands and re-commit to undertaking our journey with him; we wonder why he would accept us back—forever errant as we are.

Still, he does, never seeming to lose sight of that ancient promise.

I HAVE REDEEMED YOU... YOU ARE MINE!

We see these words—the indelible mark of the Lord—a banner over us. We bawl.

A timeless charge and a commanding position of peace and everlasting safety we hold in his sight; never harmed and never harming we stand beside this Glory beyond all comprehension.

Eternity is ours and knowledge of the Almighty too, we step back into his favour and he accepts this Prodigal—our returning pleases him. He never rejects, only accepts. He loves and never despises us, though saddening disappointment might certainly fill his field of view whilst we run.

And yet, as we run, his beckoning echo—spoken consistently through the ages—bellows silently for our souls to know:

I AM WITH YOU!

Though we travel the vast distances of our times, and are found wanting again and again, he seeks us with the holiest, undeterred love.

He warrants the possession of our love as we realise, on consignment, our time without him is running thin. Like air at altitude we constantly find the Lord, our God, has followed us calling us lower—and to safety we run.

We are special to him like we do not even know. We cannot know it. We cannot see the colossal depths of this love the God of all creation has for our single little souls. He has reached within us, even before we were conceived.

He has so hidden himself—the mysterious God—from us. So great and magnanimous is this love, his portions are built within us in digestible components. How so blown away would our gentle hearts be to know the power of truth unfurled in God’s love.

The Lord has said,

BRING MY SONS FROM AFAR

AND MY DAUGHTERS FROM THE ENDS OF THE EARTH.

He has said it; nothing can separate us from this love.

This most important refrain resounds in our heart of hearts—in our most serious moment, we reflect, awed, startled at the amazing truth of his grace.

BECAUSE I LOVE YOU, I WILL GIVE... IN EXCHANGE FOR YOUR LIFE.

© 2010 S. J. Wickham.

All Scripture in capitals from Isaiah 43:1-7 (NIV).