Page 130 - Isaiah Student Worktext

This is a recollection of that great goodness, but it is also a reminder of what can be if we/they return to
obedience.

‘Surely they are My people’, reminding Israel that they were and are His chosen people. They were
offered something no one else was, and yet they didn’t seem to appreciate what God had done for
them.

Sometimes we need to be reminded of His goodness, and one of the ways to bring that to our minds is
to send us through a valley of difficulty.

V. 9-10 Here’s something very significant: ‘In all their affliction, He was afflicted’. Any of you who are
parents or have loved ones who have suffered know that it brings suffering for you as well. It’s
important to remember that He hurts when we hurt.

I read this: ‘The only pain, grief or affliction that God ever suffers comes from His voluntary compassion
for His people’.

Why would He create a people who only bring Him affliction? Of course His people don’t only bring Him
affliction…His people can also bring Him great joy. It’s very much like having our own children.

The Angel of His Presence saved them, and salvation brings rejoicing. He had redeemed us, He has
carried us. Every good and perfect gift comes from above. (James 1: 17)

Still, despite all His efforts on our behalf, we rebelled. It says that they have grieved His Holy Spirit.
Ephesians 4: 30

V. 11-13 Perhaps the best evidence of God’s intervention on the behalf of His people is His deliverance
of them from slavery in Egypt. He led them with the pillar of fire, He led them ‘by the right hand of
Moses’. Parting the Red Sea should have been something that they wouldn’t even have to be reminded
of, but we probably all have our own Red Sea experiences that we need to be reminded of periodically.

V. 14 All this, all that He does, all that we should do, should be to bring glory to His name.

V. 15-16 This is an intercessory prayer: Oh, God, look down from Heaven, don’t restrain Your mercies.

The indication of V. 16 is that Abraham has been kept from knowing about the disobedience of his
descendants. Would our ancestors be ashamed if they could look down and see what we have done/are
doing?

V. 17-19 It appears at first that the intercessor is blaming God, who ‘made us stray from Your ways’.
God allows us to make our own choices. He is perfectly holy and hates wickedness more than we could
ever imagine, so He certainly didn’t cause our disobedience.

But the intercessor pleads with God to stop His people’s straying. Lead them back to You, change their
hearts.

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