When God raises God's hands (Isaiah 49.14-26)
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But Zion said, “The Lord has forsaken me,
my Lord has forgotten me.”
Can a woman forget her nursing child,
or show no compassion for the child of her womb?
Even these may forget,
yet I will not forget you.
See, I have inscribed you on the palms of my hands;
your walls are continually before me.
Your builders outdo your destroyers,
and those who laid you waste go away from you.
Lift up your eyes all around and see;
they all gather, they come to you.
As I live, says the Lord,
you shall put all of them on like an ornament,
and like a bride you shall bind them on.
Surely your waste and your desolate places
and your devastated land—
surely now you will be too crowded for your inhabitants,
and those who swallowed you up will be far away.
The children born in the time of your bereavement
will yet say in your hearing:
“The place is too crowded for me;
make room for me to settle.”
Then you will say in your heart,
“Who has borne me these?
I was bereaved and barren,
exiled and put away—
so who has reared these?
I was left all alone—
where then have these come from?”
Thus says the Lord God:
I will soon lift up my hand to the nations,
and raise my signal to the peoples;
and they shall bring your sons in their bosom,
and your daughters shall be carried on their shoulders.
Kings shall be your foster fathers,
and their queens your nursing mothers.
With their faces to the ground they shall bow down to you,
and lick the dust of your feet.
Then you will know that I am the Lord;
those who wait for me shall not be put to shame.
Can the prey be taken from the mighty,
or the captives of a tyrant be rescued?
But thus says the Lord:
Even the captives of the mighty shall be taken,
and the prey of the tyrant be rescued;
for I will contend with those who contend with you,
and I will save your children.
I will make your oppressors eat their own flesh,
and they shall be drunk with their own blood as with wine.
Then all flesh shall know
that I am the Lord your Savior,
and your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.
Intro:
The World’s strongest man Mark Henry shared with Ray Lewis in a recent interview...
“If someone is hanging off the cliff,
I want to be the one holding the rope......
......because I know if I’m holding the rope they gonna live!”
(pause)
And......
I don’t know about you but to me that is a mindset of extreme confidence!
Because.....
......most people would not want to be in that position with that much pressure depending on their ability
But Mark Henry said......
........his mindset is so full of confidence because of his Faith!
......he does’nt believe there’s nothing he can’t do!!!
(pause)
Freedom family....
we got to have this kind of faith in God.....
the kind of faith that says,
“If someone is hanging off the cliff,
...we want to be the one holding the rope
.....because we know they’re gonna live if we’re holding the rope!
(pause)
In today’s scripture.....
As verse 13 closes with a prophetic announcement that says,
“The Lord has comforted His people, and will have mercy on His afflicted.”
Verse 14 opens by saying,
“But Zion said”
(slight pause)
And....
.....this statement is a statement that shows us a people that reject what God just said God would do through the prophet.
So.....
…when the Lord says “I will comfort you and have mercy”
The people said,
“The Lord has forsaken us!”
(pause)
In other words......
They were NOT Convinced by that Word!
(slight pause)
And the reason they were Unconvinced by the Word was because.....
Zion was still living in exile under the rule of Babylonian captivity
(slight pause)
......in other words
....they were still experiencing their CRISIS when this WORD was spoken!
And so......
.....no matter how good it sounded
.......all they could really hear is,
“God has forgotten about us!”
(pause)
I wonder if I’m preaching to somebody who will admit.....
“....Pastor, I have been there!”
Because........
..........Even though you hear what God promised you, your life is still in CRISIS!
(Pause)
I didn’t come to preach to those who got it all together.........
Today I came to preach to those of you who are FALLING APART!
I came to preach to those of you who when you saw several mass shootings this week said to yourself.......
“God you have forgotten about us!”
I came to preach to those of you who when you saw Daunte Wright lose his life at the hands of the officer who chose her Glock instead of her taser.......
.......cried real tears and in crisis hollered,
“God.......
........you have forgotten about us!”
(pause)
I came to preach to those of you who have so much of your own stuff going not right........
........that it’s hard for you to keep that fake smile on your face!
And now you’re at the point of saying to the Lord.......
“God........
........how could you forget about me?!”
(long pause)
And in verse 15 the prophet asks 2 rhetorical questions to those of you that I’m preaching to today when it says......
(pause)
Can a woman forget her baby?
or......
Lose compassion for the child she gave birth to?
Freedom.........
I work around babies, and one thing about babies is that when they need something, they don’t stop crying until they get it!
A mother can be sleeping comfortably in her bed, and the baby could be all the way in the other room.....
.....but when the internal clock in that baby goes off that says,
“I’m hungry for some milk!”
That baby will scream...........
.........until that Mother comes to nurse it with milk!
(pause)
Notice......
.......the bible did not say a bottle fed baby
Because........
.........anybody can hold a bottle
But when a mother is nursing.........
...........there is NO SUBSTITUTE for her!
(pause)
And I believe that the reason God speaks of “A nursing mother” in the text is because the point that is to be understood is that............
God needs them to see,
.....I know how much you are depending on me!
And......
No matter how rough it gets,
It’s impossible for me to forget about you!
(pause and expound)
David said,
“I’ve NEVER seen the righteous forsaken!”
And Freedom.......
“Somebody listening to me is in CRISIS..............
You hear the Word telling you God is a comforter and full of mercy....
But........
......it don’t look like it
......it don’t feel like it
And so.......
......you are in a position just like Zion is in today’s text
.....and you need more convincing.
(pause)
And so God responds again in verse 16 and 17 to those of us that need more convincing and says.....
....another reason why I can’t forget about you is because
(slight pause)
See, I have inscribed you on the palms of my hands;
your walls are continually before me.
Your builders outdo your destroyers,
and those who laid you waste go away from you.
The text says......
When we look at the hand print of God......
......all of our families show up!
(longer pause)
And in my spiritual imagination.....
I hear God telling us that,
“We are UNFORGETTABLE!”
When God looks at God’s hands
When God is at work with God’s hands
.......because we are on God’s hands
.......we are on God’s mind while God’s hands are at work!
(pause and expound optional)
And in verse 17 God says,
“Your builders outdo your destroyers!”
In other words......
“The things that are working in your favor.......
.....the things that God is putting together to produce positive outcomes in your lives
......are more effective than what’s trying to work against you!”
(pause and expound optional)
Look at it now.....
Lift up your eyes all around and see;
they all gather, they come to you.
As I live, says the Lord,
you shall put all of them on like an ornament,
and like a bride you shall bind them on.
The text says......
“It’s time to look around and see something”
Because God says.....
“Increase is coming to Zion”
(pause)
The bible says......
They are going to increase in number and God’s glory or honor!
(pause)
Now the problem for Zion is that......
.....their numbers have been reduced so much because of Babylonian captivity that they struggle in believing this.
(slight pause)
And when the crisis we go through has been strong enough to reduce us....
It makes it hard to believe that something else is strong enough to restore us...
(pause)
And Zion doesn’t believe they have the numbers......
To Occupy the city
Cultivate the ground and build something greater
(slight pause)
And in my spiritual imagination I hear them saying......
“God we don’t have ENOUGH!”
(pause)
But God says in verse 19.......
“I understand that your LOSS was GREAT!”
But......
“I need you to LOOK AROUND”
Because I’m getting ready to “RAISE my Hands!”
(longer pause)
And in verse 20 God says to Zion.......
Everything that you gave birth to in the period of your grief......
.......is about to tell you
“This place is too crowded for me.......”
......and Watch this!
“MAKE ROOM for me to settle”
And in my spiritual imagination I hear God saying to Zion......
I never stopped PRODUCING for you, even though you were GRIEVING through this!
And just because you watched REDUCTION happen.....
Doesn’t mean that I can’t cause RESTORATION to occur!
(pause)
God says......
......You’re not going to understand how this happened
(pause)
As a matter of fact,
You’re going to say to yourself.......
Who did this?
and.....
How is this even possible?
(pause)
Because you saw it with your own eyes.......
......and you experienced it in your own life!
(slight pause)
Your Pain is Personal......
You were too busy grieving what you were losing to think about gaining something better....
(pause)
Zion said in the text,
We were bereaved and barren
…exiled and put away!
And so......
Who raised these children you’re talking about God?
In other words......
God everything was taken away from us.......
......and we were so empty
How in the world is this even possible?
(slight pause)
As a matter of fact.........
If felt like we were going through this by ourselves
And so God......
Where did they come from???????
(pause)
And Freedom........
Zion wanted to know just like some of us want to know........
(slight pause)
God.........
If we were going through a CRISIS..........
Where did this INCREASE come from?
(pause)
And in my spiritual imagination........
I hear God’s response in verse 22!
Thus says the Lord God:
I will soon lift up my hand to the nations,
and raise my signal to the peoples;
and they shall bring your sons in their bosom,
and your daughters shall be carried on their shoulders.
In other words.......
God says,
“I’m getting ready to RAISE MY HANDS!”
(longer pause and CLOSE......)
And some of you may be wondering......
What happens when God Raises God’s hands?
(slight pause)
And in my spiritual imagination I hear God saying....
“When I Raise my Hands!”
Standards are “SET UP!”
Lost things are “RESTORED”
Increase is “GUARANTEED”
Support Systems are “ORCHESTRATED”
Enemies are “DEFEATED”
(slight pause)
And for those who have been “WAITING”
.........and for those who have been “TRUSTING”
(slight pause)
God says......
“I’m RAISING my Hands because I need you to know
I’m the one HOLDING THE ROPE!!
and if I’m HOLDING the ROPE.......
Because I am the Lord your Savior
Your Redeemer.......
I aint gonna let nothing take you all the way out!!!!
Because I love you so much........
I’ll let it get to a certain point.........
But after I have had enough..........
“I’ll RAISE my HANDS!”
(pause)
And Family......
When our REDEEMER raises those hands!!!!
(HERE IT COMES.........REPEAT)
When God Raises those hands............
Everything that was holding us back.......
......has to LET US GO!!!
.......................................EXPOUND and CLOSE................................