Today’s Passage: Isaiah 45-48, I Corinthians 13
In 1983, Tina Turner made the hit with the title “What’s love got to do with it”. It is one of her most famous songs, it is actually so popular that it made the Rock-N-Roll Hall of Fame. Today’s passage asks the question “ what’s got to do with it?” and the answer is “Everything”.
In I Corinthians Chapter 13, Paul is trying to relate the fullness of Love. In this definition Paul is going deeper than romantic love and revealing the essence of Love from the Spirit of God. When Jillian and I got married the priest went over this passage with my wife and myself. Throughout the passage, he had us substitute our name for each instance of love.
“Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away.”
1 Corinthians 13:4-8 ESV
Lynden/ Jillian is patient and kind. Lynden/Jillian does not envy or boast……
But as we grow, and as we mature, we can substitute God for love because Gods is the essence of love as defined by John.
“Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him.”
God is kind and patient. God does not envy or boast…
All that God has done for us has been out of love. The true manifestation and representation of God can be seen in the book of Isaiah chapter 45 through 48. Reading Isaiah is one of the most challenging and spiritually stretching exercises that I have done. You cannot just read it once or 100 times, you have to be mentally prepared for the deep dive into these scriptures.
This past week, Oliver had an experience for outdoor survival and education. This is the culmination of eight years of training at school to be prepared to take care of yourself outdoors. Over the last several weeks we prepared everything for Oliver. We ensured you had the correct clothes, shelter, medicines, and everything to make this week memorable. I also prepared myself by getting my things prepared for him to protect him if he had a seizure while we were at the Outdoor Ed. There was a lot of planning on Jillian and my part to make sure that he had a great time.
We provide and think and plan and prepare for our kids not just for this current time but also as they grow up. We try to be focused and prepared for their well-being. As I prepared for the trip, I had an understanding of how God is planning and preparing for us, long before we can even think of it. In the chapters of Isaiah, God is laying out his protection and his plan for the children of Israel, even through their separation and their exiled to Babylon. In these chapters, God spells out how he will protect them and how he will plan for their growth of protection in the midst of their exile.
“Thus says the Lord to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have grasped, to subdue nations before him and to loose the belts of kings, to open doors before him that gates may not be closed: “I will go before you and level the exalted places, I will break in pieces the doors of bronze and cut through the bars of iron, I will give you the treasures of darkness and the hoards in secret places, that you may know that it is I, the Lord, the God of Israel, who call you by your name. For the sake of my servant Jacob, and Israel my chosen, I call you by your name, I name you, though you do not know me. I am the Lord, and there is no other, besides me there is no God; I equip you, though you do not know me, that people may know, from the rising of the sun and from the west, that there is none besides me; I am the Lord, and there is no other. I form light and create darkness; I make well-being and create calamity; I am the Lord, who does all these things.”
He made plans for the people and showed them 200 years before and shows what is coming. He makes specific decisions and directions for the people who he cares for and has chosen. He has the same level of compassion and love for us as his children. He has some amazing things ready for us. He will also protect us from whatever presents a threat to us because he has it all figured out. We have to allow him to work for us for His good. Because of love, He has prepared many amazing things for us that we have yet to see.