Thus says the Lord, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel, “I am the Lord your God, who teaches you to profit, Who leads you in the way you should go. Isaiah 48:17
There is so much fire in this text it is hard to contain my joy. First the Lord says something that should excite all of us. He calls Himself our Redeemer. It means that we had need of redeeming and that He was willing to step up and do what is necessary to restore our place. That He was unwilling to let us live beneath the status upon which He bestowed on us at the first.
Secondly, God Himself teaches us how to be successful. The problem with us is that we do not know what true success is. We don’t know what is “profit”. He doesn’t leave it to someone else to teach us how to profit, He shows us what ultimate profit is and that is the salvation of our souls. He leads us in the paths of righteousness.
Finally not only does He restore us and teach us how we should go, He says follow me. He leads us in His ways. God is in complete control and when we follow Him we are not lost. It is only when we want to go walkabout that we get ourselves into trouble. But if we would simply let God have His way we would see that where He is leading us is to a beautiful land. A land in which we won’t have to worry ever again.
Yeah this passage contains a lot of fire.