Readings for today: Isaiah 43-45, Psalms 80
One of things I often do when I travel overseas is look at the tracking map they make available while you’re onboard. It’s a great way to pass the time. I watch as cities like London, Paris, Rome, Cairo, Khartoum, Juba, Entebbe, Bahiir Dar, Asmara, Djibouti, Jeddah, Mogadishu, and Aden all come into view. I’ve flown over Greenland, Iceland, and Europe as I make my way to the Horn of Africa. I’ve fallen in love with this part of the world. God has given me a heart for the people over there. I have dear friends in Ethiopia, Uganda, and South Sudan. They are some of my spiritual heroes and heroines. They are engaged in the great work of taking the light of the gospel into some very dark places. They encounter a lot of idolatry. The worship of false gods. And when you’ve seen some of the things I’ve seen, Isaiah’s words don’t seem so foreign or unfamiliar. “The carpenter stretches a line; he marks it out with a pencil. He shapes it with planes and marks it with a compass. He shapes it into the figure of a man, with the beauty of a man, to dwell in a house. He cuts down cedars, or he chooses a cypress tree or an oak and lets it grow strong among the trees of the forest. He plants a cedar and the rain nourishes it. Then it becomes fuel for a man. He takes a part of it and warms himself; he kindles a fire and bakes bread. Also he makes a god and worships it; he makes it an idol and falls down before it.” (Isaiah 44:13-15) The thing is…I’ve met these carpenters. I’ve seen the craftsmen hard at work fashioning their idols. I’ve watched them bow down before them and it shatters my heart. I’ve wept over the lost. I’ve held those who are sick. I’ve prayed with those who are dying. I’ve seen the desperately poor. And I’ve dedicated my life to bringing them the hope of the gospel.
“But now thus says the Lord, he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: "Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine.” (Isaiah 43:1) I believe with all my heart that God called me for such a time as this. God created and fashioned me for this purpose. He redeemed me so many years on the campus of the University of Colorado in Boulder so that I might fulfill His great plan to bring the gospel to the nations. This is why He called me by name. To set me apart. To serve His purposes. To take all that I am and all that I have and use me for His glory. I have no identity of my own. I have nothing to call my own. This is not just something I do in my spare time or support with the leftovers of my life. This is literally the reason I exist. “Remember these things, O Jacob, and Israel, for you are my servant; I formed you; you are my servant…I have blotted out your transgressions like a cloud and your sins like mist; return to me, for I have redeemed you.” (Isaiah 44:21-22)
Now you may be tempted to dismiss this as my individual calling. Something unique to Doug Resler but nothing could be further from the truth. Every single person who calls on the name of the Lord has been saved and set apart for this glorious purpose…to bring the gospel to the nations! It starts right outside your front door and extends to the very ends of the earth. Every resource you’ve been given. Every gift you’ve received. Every talent you’ve developed. Every life experience you’ve gone through. God has carefully orchestrated all these things in order to prepare you for His service. By the way, this is true whether you acknowledge Him or not! Consider the example of Cyrus the Persian from our reading today! The reality is you don’t have to go to Africa to see idolatry. You don’t have to go to the Middle East to see the worship of false gods. Our nation and our neighborhoods are just as dark as places like Juba and Khartoum and Entebbe. The people we live among need the gospel just as desperately as the people I will have the opportunity to go and serve this fall. When it comes to the Kingdom of God and the promise of eternal life, we hold no advantage. We have no privilege of position. We will not be “boarding” first or get any special treatment. God has given us a truly GREAT commission. To share the good news of the gospel. To go and tell the nations of all He has done! To sing a new song! To lift up praise to our King! To place our lives in His hands for Him to use as He sees fit according to His divine plan.
Readings for tomorrow: Isaiah 46-49, Psalms 135