“I know that my redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand on the earth.” Job 19:25 NIV
“God, your Redeemer, who shaped your life in your mother’s womb, says: “I am God. I made all that is. With no help from you I spread out the skies and laid out the earth.” Isaiah 44:24 Message
“And they shall be called The Holy People, The Redeemed of the Lord; and you shall be called Sought Out, A City Not Forsaken.” Isaiah 62:12 GNT
I realize that the older I get the less I know. The world is constantly changing and advancements in technology require a keen mind to be able to fully keep up with all of these continual changes. We are living in a time where the information highway has increased its speed limits and the guy moving slower on the road will be passed and left behind. All of these realities bring pressure and the internal battle to need to know as much as we can. To be in a place where you do not know, makes you vulnerable and considered somewhat useless on this advancing information highway.
But is all of this information really producing anything that leads to life? We are continually bombarded with the changes. We need to be in “the know” but in the process of knowing more, in many cases, we actually know less. We are graduating illiterate men and women in a society that knows more than any before it. Young men and women are less prepared for life than they ever have been while traveling this super highway of information. It doesn’t make sense, but it is the reality. What is going on? How can we have more but walk away with less?
We know the wrong things. We have shifted priority away from important to information overload, and all at the cost of missing the thing that matters most. We have more “friends” on our social media than we can possibly ever be in a relationship with and while having all of these connections, we are more disconnected than ever. We have information and opportunity that is void of truth and true reality. We need to see a redeemer in the midst of all of our knowledge. If there is anything we desperately need to understand in this culture, it is that our redeemer lives and knowing Him is our security and hope in this changing world. We need to fully grasp that.
Job understood something. Life changes and it changes fast. He had no power or control over those changes, but there is something that remained a constant, something that was a sure thing in His life. God was his redeemer and He was coming for Job.
Some love the changes in our world and those changes are not all bad. They have opened many new and wonderful opportunities to share in life with others. It is not about being blessed with information, it is about knowing the thing that matters most while gaining new information. All of the blessings of this present world are nothing if we forget that our redeemer lives and He is coming for us. We aren’t here long so let’s not settle and sell out for things that do not satisfy.
Today I am grateful for the blessings of our current changes, but I am most grateful that it is all temporal because my redeemer is coming for me. I am thankful that the One who created all of this will step on it and declare “You are my redeemed, loved and never forsaken.” It doesn’t get any better than that. Take this whole world, but give me Jesus. He is Truth and Reality, the kind that never changes.
Comments(10)
Keith De'Bell says:
March 4, 2015 at 3:00 amPsalm 46:10-11(NIV)
10 He says, “Be still, and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth.”
11 The Lord Almighty is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress.
Amen
Susan Holmes says:
March 5, 2015 at 12:22 amOne of my favourite scriptures Keith. Thanks for the reminder that He is with us.
Susan Craig says:
March 4, 2015 at 3:25 amI know my Redeemer lives-what an awesome statement that is!! Jesus lives!! The grave could not hold Him down-the earth is too small to contain Him and His glory!! He is alive!! We may not see Him but we sure do feel His Presence with us and we have a hope that will never fade away-the sure hope of being with Him forever!! I needed this outlook tonight. I have been so up and down emotionally like a roller coaster lately-it is frustrating to be like this when I know that I have so much to be thankful for. But the thought of going to heaven and not having all my family with me has been weighing on me these days. I have 2 sons who do not even believe that God exists and it burdens my heart so. I do have one son who is a believer and loves the Lord and that brings me much joy and comfort. But I do not love him more than my other 2 sons-they have all been given to me to raise and love. So while it seems to me that most other Christians are eager for the Lord to return ,I am praying He holds back til all my sons are saved. As a mother, I can’t help how I feel. While I am happy to know my destination and my Redeemer-I am sad for my sons who do not yet acknowledge Him as their Savior and Lord. This is the reality of life for me and I am sure it must be the same for others like me who have people they love who are not Christians yet. A couple of weeks ago, I saw Israel’s prime minister on the news calling for Jews everywhere to return to their homeland. I know we are living in the last days when I see that on the news. All the new technology has opened the door to all of the world’s knowledge being at our fingertips but we also have access to all the world’s garbage and false ideologies at our fingertips. Life indeed has been moving very fast-so fast that it is hard to keep up and also hard for parents to protect our families from the overload of ideas that are anything but Christian. I feel like we are fighting a losing battle on that front. The TV programs are full of garbage as well-not much wholesome family viewing to pick from. I feel like I am getting farther behind everyday and that there are fewer people standing up for truth than ever before. When the supreme court of Canada announced this year that a law prohibiting euthanasia is unconstitutional, when the Liberal leader openly states he will legalize possession of marijauna if he is elected prime minister, when abortions in this country are so numerous that the blood of these innocent babies cries out for justice, I too wonder just how much longer will our God allow these things to continue and Him not intervene. I am reminded of the verse I have quoted in the past-“My heart would have fainted within me, had I not seen the hand of the Lord in the land of the living.” To be honest, somedays it is very hard to see the hand of the Lord in this world at all. My heart does faint within me more frequently these days. Yet I do believe that my Redeemer lives! He sought me and bought me with His redeeming blood and there is victory in Him. So tonight I am thankful that I know my Redeemer lives and that He loves me. I am also grateful that as long as this world exists and I am still here, I will pray that He reveals Himself to my sons who do not know Him yet. I pray for strength and opportunity to keep going and to display Christ living in me so that He is shining through the darkness in my home and reaching out to my sons in their need for redemption. God is not willing that any should perish but that all may come to repentance. Lord, I am praying that you bring my sons to the place where they realize their need and come to Jesus as He is the only one who can supply their needs. Also praying my husband will follow through on his profession of faith made years ago which he has not been currently modeling in his life- take away my frustration and my fear Lord-Help me to stand in the power of Your Spirit and your truth. Help me to remain faithful to you, no matter what opposition I face. Use me Lord to reach my family for you. Grateful for all You mean to me and for all You do for me, everyday Lord. Keep me close to You!!
Pat McRae says:
March 4, 2015 at 7:23 pmStanding in prayer with you Susan :). I also pray that God will send the right labourers across my families paths, people who know God and will speak a word in due season that will bring salvation fruit. Don’t be discouraged God hears your prayers and sees the longing of your heart. I think Keith’s verse today “Be still and know that I am God,” is a good one for both of us to stand on. I agree with you that your family will be saved, and where any two shall agree as touching anything it shall be done for them of God. Blessings my friend God is good!
Susan Craig says:
March 5, 2015 at 4:30 amThank you Pat!!
Sue Holmes says:
March 4, 2015 at 11:46 pmAgreeing with you in prayer Susan. Know that God also yearns for all of your boys to be in relationship with Him as well as for Bob to be walking out his faith in the same freedom you have found. The times we are living in are exciting for believers but also bittersweet when we have unsaved family members (which includes all of us). So, am praying that the Holy Spirit will make Bob and the boys aware of their need for God, and that their response will one of joyful surrender. And thanking Him for it in advance. 🙂
(Psalms 103:17 NIV) But from everlasting to everlasting the Lord’s love is with those who fear him, and his righteousness with their children’s children–
Susan Craig says:
March 5, 2015 at 4:30 amThank you Sue!!
Pat McRae says:
March 4, 2015 at 6:50 pmAs I read Job 19:25 I was reminded of a great old hymn I use to sing, “My Redeemer Lives”. Music by George Handed, 1741; words written by Charles Wesley, 1742. The words say all that these verses convey.
I know that my redeemer lives, And ever prays for me, a token of His love He gives, A pledge of liberty.
I find Him lifting up my head, He brings salvation near, His presence makes me free indeed, And He will soon appear.
He wills that I should holy be, What can withstand His will? The counsel of His grace in me, He surely shall fulfill.
Jesus I hang upon Thy word, I steadfastly believe, Thou will return and claim me, Lord, And to Thyself receive.
Joyful in hope, my soul sours, To meet thee from above, Thy goodness thankfully adores, And surely I taste Your love.
Thy love I soon expect to find, in all its depths and heights, To comprehend the eternal mind, and grasp the Infinite.
When God in mine and I am His, Of paradise possessed, I taste unutterable bliss, And ever lasting rest.
The bliss of all those that fully dwell, Fully on Thee believe, ‘Tis more than angel tongues can tell, or Angels minds conceive.
Thou only knowest who didst obtain, And die to make it known, The great salvation now explained, And perfect us in one.
Today I am thankful that I have been redeemed from all curses, set free to be the righteousness of God. I am thankful that God’s love, lives in me and His grace makes me secures daily. I am thankful that without the hope of eternal life, this life would not be worth living. But oh how glorious will that day be when I meet my Redeemer face to face.
Yes I am thankful my Redeemer lives!!
Sue Holmes says:
March 5, 2015 at 12:16 amToday’s scripture is a picture of consistency in the face of continuity. Time is travelling on & there is nothing that I can do to stop it. Along with time everything around me is moving forward & changing. Everything except for ONE thing … my Redeemer … Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today & forever. (Hebrews 13:8)
He created the skies & the earth. He was there when I was still in the womb and He will be there in the end. And He is mine. That is what I find to be so amazing … He is my Redeemer!!! To quote Nicole C Mullins “Redeemer”, “The very same God that spins things in orbit runs to the weary, the worn and the weak …”
I am & have been the weary, worn & weak. I am grateful for a God who will defy this world, to the point of becoming seemingly undignified just to redeem a life that had become weary, worn, weak & broken. I am thankful that I am called Redeemed.
Jim Holmes says:
March 5, 2015 at 12:22 amThe 3 passages for today speak of God being our Redeemer. He is redeeming a people that shall be called holy, redeemed, a city not forsaken, a people sought out, a people made by Him, shaped by Him, who made also all that is, who knew you and I in our mother’s womb before birth. When we were helpless, He made us. It is said also that God will stand on the earth.
It is written that the earth is God’s footstool. The thought of standing signifies that something will happen to cause Him to rise from His rest. It could symbolize the time of the great catching up of the Church, the redemption of the body of Christ . To know God (Jesus) is eternal life. I know that my redeemer lives. He comes for a bride that is without spot or wrinkle…holy. He comes for not one, but many, even a city. Yet you individually are important to Him. He will not leave or forsake His own. He is the Shepherd come to seek the lost. He sought us out. We did not know the Way back. He is the Way. God redeemed us from death, who were condemned to death, by the substitute of His Son, who died in out place and was raised to life, that we might have life in Him. We are the treasure in the world (field) that God came for, and God bought the field back (purchased the world) by His death on the cross, and so the sentence of death passed on all men (the world was crucified, I think of Gal. 6:14 “May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.”) and the treasure (those who believed in the Son) God dug from the field (sought out) to be His forever more (a holy city).
Praise Jesus Who came to seek that which was lost: a people….a holy city…”us”…