Immanuel
by Dr Pauline Simonsen
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You, O Lord, are our father; our Redeemer from of old is your name (Isaiah 63:16).
Read Isaiah 63:15 – 64:9
Yesterday, we remembered and rejoiced at the goodness of God in our lives. But today, that is all behind a cloud because God is hidden from us. He seems far off in heaven, withholding his love and compassion from us. It feels like we – his dearly-loved people – are floundering and wandering aimlessly, losing our way. Where is our God?
Isaiah’s cry rises from these verses and travels over continents and centuries to every time and place since where God’s people feel shaken and abandoned. To Jewish people in pogroms and Holocaust. To persecuted Christians in countries that oppress the followers of Jesus. To tiny communities of faith struggling to survive another month. To churches wrestling with deep issues that threaten to divide and scatter.
Isaiah’s prayer speaks for us corporately – and personally – in our individual times of desolation and grief. Especially when we are burdened with our sin and utter wretchedness before God.
How hard it is to remember God’s goodness when God is silent in the face of our desolation! He seems to have forgotten that we are his beloved children! ‘O, that you would tear open the heavens and come down! … Look at us, we pray, and see that we are all your people!’
But wait. There is One here beside you, walking with you, his eyes fixed upon your face, and his ear turned to hear your cry. One who dwells within his broken church, among his tiny struggling communities, suffering beside his persecuted ones. His name is Immanuel, and he has come from heaven to be with his people. He is not far off; he is here.
And he is Lord. He is the Anointed One, the suffering Servant King, the Conqueror. He is the warrior shepherd. He is the Faithful God. He is the Son of the Father. He is the answer to Isaiah’s wondering, longings and visions. He is our God, and we are his people.
He is yours, and you are his.
When life overwhelms you with distress – whatever its source – and when the enemy tempts you to think that God has forgotten you, remember this: He is yours, and you are his.
‘For I am convinced that … [nothing] in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord’ (Romans 8:38,39).
Draw near me, Lord Jesus, when I am lost in grief like Mary at your tomb. Call my name and lift my eyes to see you with me. Remind me of your everlasting love for me and your people. Thank you, my Saviour. Amen.
Pauline leads a Bible college and offers spiritual direction in Palmerston North, New Zealand. She’s married to Roger – who is recently retired – and she enjoys having him home a bit more. When she gets some free time, Pauline loves cooking and reading and likes nothing better than sitting with a cat on her lap and watching the birds in her garden.
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