Praise the Lord! As we have entered into a new week in life, let us praise and glorify the Lord God Almighty who sustained us throughout the past week without any cataclysmic harm or danger. This does not mean that everyday of the past week (or our life so far) we had good and peaceful days and did not face any trouble or trials in life. Although we face troubles and trials in our everyday life, the Lord is the One who help us to overcome it, as king David stated out of his own experience: The salvation of the righteous comes from the Lord; he is their stronghold in time of trouble. The Lord helps them and delivers them; he delivers them from the wicked and saves them, because they take refuge in him (Psalm 37:39-40).

The Lord has blessed us with a very assuring Scripture passage for our meditation this week, which is taken from the prophetical book of Isaiah 48:17. In this passage God introduces Himself as the Lord God Almighty – the Holy One, and reminds the children of Israel that He is their Redeemer and Savior. As the people of Israel turned their back on the Lord by turning to practice the detestable things as the Babylonians and their neighboring nations do, the Lord repeatedly rebuking them and instructing them to abide in Him and follow the righteous laws and decrees and commands He gave them through His servant Moses. Although the Lord wanted to teach them His holy instructions and guide and direct them the way they should go, they failed to follow the Lord’s instructions time and time again. Yet, the  Lord [their Redeemer and Savior] introduces Himself again and assures them saying, ‘I am the Lord your God – the Holy and Mighty One.’ We can understand that (i) the Lord wanted them to know that He is the Lord, the God of their fathers who redeemed and saved them (48:17a); (ii) the Lord wanted to teach and instruct them His righteous laws and decrees and commands in addition to guide and lead them (48:17b); (iii) the Lord wanted to show them the way and direct them in the right path they should go (48:17c). For all those who lives in the New Testament era, it is the Lord God Almighty – the God of Israel – the Great I am, is the who introduce and lead and guide you and I to Christ Jesus His only begotten Son, the author and perfecter of our faith and the one bore our sins and nailed to the cross, who died and rose again so we might also be raised into life everlasting (refer to John 6:47; 10:28; 20:25; Acts 2:23; Colossians 2:14; Hebrews 12:2; 1 John 5:11). As the faithful followers of Christ Jesus, what we can understand from the passage we chose for our meditation (Isaiah 48:17) is that the Lord reassures us that He is our God, and, thus, we need to acknowledge and accept Him as the One who created us, sustained us, redeemed us, and saved us. We need to become aware of the reality that it is no one but He is the One who sustains us and keep us safe and secure in our life journey through this troublesome world. Not only the Lord teaches us what is best for us and directs us in the way we should go but He is also the One who personally redeem, teach, and guide us to follow His righteous laws and decrees and commands and other rules and regulations for a better life here on earth and in the realm He is bringing into existence. This an invitation for us to stop from everything we do and begin to trust in Him for everything we need in our lives believing that God is able to lead and guide us and provide for all our spiritual, emotional, and material needs in life, which is the reason the Lord introduces Himself to us as the Lord God Almighty – the Redeemer and the Holy One who redeems and saves our life. Thus, the Lord trains us to become a better and stronger person in everything we say and do as He is powerful in everything He says and does.

Though we provoke the Lord or cause His anger to be aroused time to time by following our own heart’s desires to satisfy our carnal wants and wishes, He cares for us more than He cares for any other beings or things He created. Sometimes, it is hard to understand God’s love and care for us in the midst of the struggles we go through in our lives. We need to understand that there is not even a single person who ever lived [including Christ Himself] or lives in the world today who did not have to face any struggles in life as it is a universal reality that we all one way or other have to face some kind of struggles in our lives. However [even in the midst of all the struggles we go through in life], we need to trust God as He has His best for us in view of the fact that only He knows what lies ahead in the path of our lives. David was anointed to be the king of Israel as a young boy but it took several years to see its fulfillment. During those years of waiting, he went through a lot of troubles and trials in his life but he trusted the Lord his God who anointed him to be the king and the Lord protected him and delivered him from all such troubles and trials, which he later testified, saying: He is my loving God and my fortress, my stronghold and my deliverer, my shield, in whom I take refuge, who subdues peoples under me (Psalm 144:1-2). Later on, David again acknowledged the Lord as his stronghold and deliverer: The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold (Psalm 18:2). Also, when the Lord delivered the sons of Korah from the trials and troubles they faced in their lives, they testified saying: God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging (Psalm 46:1-3).

Dear brothers and sisters in the Lord, as we conclude our this week’s meditation, let us know that the Lord is ready to come and teach and guide us and willing to take in-charge of our life as an anchor in our life. The question here is that Are we ready to invite/welcome Him into our life – not as a guest but as the head of our life/family. If so, it is time to seek Him earnestly, wait upon Him, and let Him know all that we need in life in addition to asking for wisdom and knowledge and understanding from above to navigate our lives on earth in the right direction. James the brother of Jesus urged his readers to ask for wisdom from God if they lack the wisdom from above, saying: If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you (James 1:5; also refer to Proverbs 2:6). Psalm 84:11 states that The Lord God is a sun and shield; the LORD bestows favor and honor; no good thing does he withhold from those whose walk is blameless. In the light of our meditation, let us continue to abide in the Lord our God – the Redeemer and Savior of our lives, and obey His righteous laws and decrees and commands and fulfill His purpose in and through our lives because He is the Lord our God who redeemed and saved our life from eternal condemnation as He teaches us what is best for us and directs us in the way we should go. May the Lord God Almighty blesses all! Amen!