1 00:00:02,710 --> 00:00:12,459 Speaker 1: Life Audio Thank you for listening to Your Nightly Scripture, 2 00:00:13,820 --> 00:00:18,100 Speaker 1: a calming scripture-centered devotional podcast designed to help you end 3 00:00:18,140 --> 00:00:21,250 Speaker 1: each day with God's Word in your mind and on 4 00:00:21,290 --> 00:00:26,630 Speaker 1: your heart. Right after the short word from our sponsors, 5 00:00:27,370 --> 00:00:31,060 Speaker 1: we will reflect on tonight's scriptures From Isaiah chapter 43. 6 00:00:31,060 --> 00:00:43,780 Speaker 1: Our evening reflection is written and read by Kyle Norman. 7 00:00:44,740 --> 00:00:51,699 Speaker 1: Isaiah chapter 43. But now thus says the Lord, He 8 00:00:51,740 --> 00:00:55,400 Speaker 1: who created you, O Jacob, He who formed you, O Israel, 9 00:00:56,230 --> 00:00:58,760 Speaker 1: Do not fear, for I have redeemed you. I have 10 00:00:58,860 --> 00:01:03,100 Speaker 1: called you by name. You are mine. When you pass 11 00:01:03,120 --> 00:01:05,640 Speaker 1: through the waters, I will be with you. And through 12 00:01:05,690 --> 00:01:08,870 Speaker 1: the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you. When you walk 13 00:01:08,890 --> 00:01:11,770 Speaker 1: through fire, you shall not be burned, and the flame 14 00:01:11,810 --> 00:01:15,990 Speaker 1: shall not consume you. For I am the Lord your God, 15 00:01:16,310 --> 00:01:20,459 Speaker 1: the Holy One of Israel, your Savior. I give Egypt 16 00:01:20,520 --> 00:01:24,380 Speaker 1: as your ransom, Ethiopia and Saba in exchange for you. 17 00:01:25,580 --> 00:01:28,410 Speaker 1: Because you are precious in my sight, and honored, and 18 00:01:28,490 --> 00:01:31,770 Speaker 1: I love you. I give people in return for you, 19 00:01:32,250 --> 00:01:36,980 Speaker 1: nations in exchange for your life. Do not fear, for 20 00:01:37,140 --> 00:01:40,300 Speaker 1: I am with you. I will bring your offspring from 21 00:01:40,340 --> 00:01:43,300 Speaker 1: the east, and from the west I will gather you. 22 00:01:44,480 --> 00:01:46,700 Speaker 1: I will say to the north, give them up, and 23 00:01:46,740 --> 00:01:50,380 Speaker 1: to the south do not withhold. Bring my sons from afar, 24 00:01:50,940 --> 00:01:54,000 Speaker 1: and my daughters from the end of the earth. Everyone 25 00:01:54,220 --> 00:01:57,180 Speaker 1: who is called by my name whom I created for 26 00:01:57,240 --> 00:02:01,770 Speaker 1: my glory, whom I formed and made. Bring forth the 27 00:02:01,810 --> 00:02:05,150 Speaker 1: people who are blind, yet have eyes, and who are deaf, 28 00:02:05,550 --> 00:02:09,990 Speaker 1: yet have ears. Let all the nations gather together, and 29 00:02:10,030 --> 00:02:14,590 Speaker 1: let the peoples assemble. Who among them declared this, and 30 00:02:14,660 --> 00:02:18,720 Speaker 1: foretold to us the former things? Let them bring their 31 00:02:18,760 --> 00:02:22,579 Speaker 1: witnesses to justify them, and let them hear and say 32 00:02:22,780 --> 00:02:27,300 Speaker 1: it is true. You, YOU ARE MY WITNESSES, SAYS THE LORD, 33 00:02:27,919 --> 00:02:30,959 Speaker 1: AND MY SERVANTS WHOM I HAVE CHOSEN, SO THAT YOU 34 00:02:31,000 --> 00:02:34,560 Speaker 1: MAY KNOW AND BELIEVE ME AND UNDERSTAND THAT I AM HE. 35 00:02:35,560 --> 00:02:39,459 Speaker 1: BEFORE ME NO GOD WAS FORMED, NOR SHALL THERE BE 36 00:02:39,620 --> 00:02:43,579 Speaker 1: ANY AFTER ME. I, I AM THE LORD, AND BESIDES 37 00:02:43,660 --> 00:02:48,200 Speaker 1: ME THERE IS NO SAVIOR. I DECLARED AND SAVED AND 38 00:02:48,240 --> 00:02:52,540 Speaker 1: PROCLAIMED WHEN THERE WAS NO STRANGE GOD AMONG YOU, AND 39 00:02:52,590 --> 00:02:56,000 Speaker 1: YOU ARE MY WITNESSES, SAYS THE LORD, that I am God, 40 00:02:56,790 --> 00:02:59,940 Speaker 1: and also henceforth I am he. There is no one 41 00:02:59,980 --> 00:03:03,880 Speaker 1: who can deliver from my hand. I work, and who 42 00:03:03,919 --> 00:03:08,210 Speaker 1: can hinder it? Thus says the Lord, your Redeemer, the 43 00:03:08,260 --> 00:03:11,790 Speaker 1: Holy One of Israel, for your sake I will send 44 00:03:11,889 --> 00:03:15,650 Speaker 1: to Babylon and break down all the bars, and the 45 00:03:15,730 --> 00:03:19,150 Speaker 1: shouting of the Chaldeans will be turned to lamentation. I 46 00:03:20,030 --> 00:03:23,720 Speaker 1: am the Lord, your Holy One, the Creator of Israel, 47 00:03:24,040 --> 00:03:28,760 Speaker 1: your King, Thus said the Lord, who makes a way 48 00:03:28,800 --> 00:03:31,959 Speaker 1: in the sea, a path in the mighty waters, who 49 00:03:32,000 --> 00:03:37,430 Speaker 1: brings out chariot and horse, army and warrior, they lie down, 50 00:03:37,530 --> 00:03:42,030 Speaker 1: they cannot rise, they are extinguished, quenched like a wick. 51 00:03:43,490 --> 00:03:47,010 Speaker 1: Do not remember the former things or consider the things 52 00:03:47,070 --> 00:03:50,160 Speaker 1: of old. I am about to do a new thing. 53 00:03:50,900 --> 00:03:55,220 Speaker 1: Now it springs forth. Do you not perceive it? I 54 00:03:55,260 --> 00:03:58,740 Speaker 1: will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in 55 00:03:58,780 --> 00:04:03,380 Speaker 1: the desert. The wild animals will honor me, the jackals 56 00:04:03,460 --> 00:04:06,760 Speaker 1: and the ostriches, for I give water in the wilderness, 57 00:04:07,240 --> 00:04:10,710 Speaker 1: rivers in the desert, to give drink to my chosen people, 58 00:04:11,330 --> 00:04:14,650 Speaker 1: the people whom I formed for myself, so that they 59 00:04:14,690 --> 00:04:20,550 Speaker 1: might declare my praise. Yet you did not call upon me, 60 00:04:20,870 --> 00:04:25,020 Speaker 1: O Jacob, but you have been weary of me. O Israel, 61 00:04:26,310 --> 00:04:29,190 Speaker 1: you have not brought me your sheep for burnt offerings 62 00:04:29,510 --> 00:04:33,550 Speaker 1: or honored me with your sacrifices. I have not burdened 63 00:04:33,589 --> 00:04:37,530 Speaker 1: you with offerings or wearied you with frankincenses. You have 64 00:04:37,589 --> 00:04:41,490 Speaker 1: not brought me sweet cane with money or satisfied me 65 00:04:41,589 --> 00:04:45,410 Speaker 1: with the fat of your sacrifices. But you have burdened 66 00:04:45,430 --> 00:04:49,820 Speaker 1: me with your sins. You have wearied me with your iniquities. I, 67 00:04:51,170 --> 00:04:56,180 Speaker 1: I am he. who blots out your transgressions for my 68 00:04:56,300 --> 00:05:01,860 Speaker 1: own sake, and I will not remember your sins. Accuse me, 69 00:05:02,200 --> 00:05:05,520 Speaker 1: let us go to trial, set forth your case, so 70 00:05:05,560 --> 00:05:09,740 Speaker 1: that you may be proved right. Your first ancestor sinned, 71 00:05:10,279 --> 00:05:16,080 Speaker 1: and your interpreters transgressed against me. Therefore I profaned the 72 00:05:16,170 --> 00:05:20,849 Speaker 1: princes of the sanctuary, I delivered Jacob to utter destruction, 73 00:05:21,350 --> 00:05:31,430 Speaker 1: and Israel, Isaiah 43 is a powerful word of redemption. 74 00:05:32,740 --> 00:05:36,339 Speaker 1: The exile had left Israel feeling abandoned and dismissed by God. 75 00:05:36,960 --> 00:05:41,160 Speaker 1: Everything around them seemed to communicate that reality. The fires, 76 00:05:41,300 --> 00:05:46,380 Speaker 1: the waters, the struggle. Surely God had divinely cut them off. 77 00:05:48,390 --> 00:05:51,610 Speaker 1: It's easy to feel that way. We live in a 78 00:05:51,650 --> 00:05:54,410 Speaker 1: world that tells us that those who are blessed live 79 00:05:54,570 --> 00:05:58,750 Speaker 1: on easy street, that God's love is revealed through abundant 80 00:05:58,810 --> 00:06:03,520 Speaker 1: blessings and problem-free lives. But if we think this way, 81 00:06:04,180 --> 00:06:07,779 Speaker 1: we miss one of the most inspiring and comforting truths 82 00:06:07,820 --> 00:06:11,880 Speaker 1: of Scripture. In the midst of life, despite the storms 83 00:06:11,960 --> 00:06:15,339 Speaker 1: or the fires that we go through, God is present. 84 00:06:16,200 --> 00:06:19,320 Speaker 1: And not only is God present, God makes a way 85 00:06:19,460 --> 00:06:23,520 Speaker 1: through our struggles. See, the love of God isn't the 86 00:06:23,580 --> 00:06:27,750 Speaker 1: love that removes us from the difficulties of life. If 87 00:06:27,770 --> 00:06:30,630 Speaker 1: this were the case, then storms and struggles would tell 88 00:06:30,690 --> 00:06:35,469 Speaker 1: us that God's love was absent. No, God's love enters 89 00:06:35,529 --> 00:06:40,750 Speaker 1: those times and helps us walk through them. God declares 90 00:06:40,770 --> 00:06:43,570 Speaker 1: to Israel, When you pass through the waters, I will 91 00:06:43,610 --> 00:06:46,560 Speaker 1: be with you. And through the rivers, they shall not 92 00:06:46,660 --> 00:06:49,680 Speaker 1: overwhelm you. When you walk through the fires, you shall 93 00:06:49,740 --> 00:06:52,440 Speaker 1: not be burned. and the flames shall not consume you. 94 00:06:53,440 --> 00:06:56,430 Speaker 1: This is the promise of God. It harkens back to 95 00:06:56,520 --> 00:07:00,190 Speaker 1: Israel's experience in the Exodus. It was declared to them 96 00:07:00,270 --> 00:07:02,310 Speaker 1: in the midst of the exile, and it is a 97 00:07:02,410 --> 00:07:07,410 Speaker 1: truth declared to us today. God, our Maker and our Redeemer, 98 00:07:07,890 --> 00:07:12,040 Speaker 1: comes to us. He does not remain distant, but journeys 99 00:07:12,120 --> 00:07:16,040 Speaker 1: with us. And because we know that God's Spirit surrounds us, 100 00:07:16,640 --> 00:07:19,940 Speaker 1: despite what we might go through, We can trust that 101 00:07:20,000 --> 00:07:25,120 Speaker 1: we will make it through. Now true, God doesn't stop 102 00:07:25,310 --> 00:07:28,950 Speaker 1: the fires and storms. And these things can be hard 103 00:07:29,130 --> 00:07:33,870 Speaker 1: to go through. But God never leaves us abandoned. God 104 00:07:33,930 --> 00:07:37,570 Speaker 1: never dismisses us. God comes in love and in healing. 105 00:07:39,310 --> 00:07:44,500 Speaker 1: What if, upon the places where we feel wasted and lifeless, 106 00:07:45,120 --> 00:07:48,850 Speaker 1: God is already present and loving us and sustaining us 107 00:07:49,360 --> 00:07:53,600 Speaker 1: and empowering us? What if God pours the life-giving water 108 00:07:53,640 --> 00:07:56,790 Speaker 1: of His Spirit upon us? Could we drink it up? 109 00:07:58,000 --> 00:08:00,980 Speaker 1: Could we trust in the Lord's Spirit for the next 110 00:08:01,060 --> 00:08:08,710 Speaker 1: part of our journey? Almighty God, the storms of my 111 00:08:08,770 --> 00:08:11,950 Speaker 1: life can cause me to be afraid. As I walk 112 00:08:11,990 --> 00:08:15,290 Speaker 1: through my days in this complicated world, I can feel 113 00:08:15,350 --> 00:08:19,020 Speaker 1: like Life crashes into me. There are times where I 114 00:08:19,080 --> 00:08:21,760 Speaker 1: feel the hurts and the wounds of this world so deeply. 115 00:08:22,860 --> 00:08:25,020 Speaker 1: And in those times, I know it's easy to turn 116 00:08:25,060 --> 00:08:30,290 Speaker 1: away from you, believing that you don't care for me. But, 117 00:08:30,350 --> 00:08:34,350 Speaker 1: O Jesus, the cross declares that you are never separated 118 00:08:34,429 --> 00:08:37,070 Speaker 1: from the wounds of my life. You take on the 119 00:08:37,110 --> 00:08:40,839 Speaker 1: chaotic waters of our existence. You bear the fire of 120 00:08:40,940 --> 00:08:46,780 Speaker 1: our wounded selves. and so that you can bestow upon 121 00:08:47,100 --> 00:08:52,189 Speaker 1: all who come your endless grace and mercy. This night 122 00:08:52,330 --> 00:08:55,730 Speaker 1: and in this moment, Lord, I open myself to your grace. 123 00:08:56,890 --> 00:09:00,290 Speaker 1: I trust in your mercy and I invite your spirit 124 00:09:00,309 --> 00:09:03,579 Speaker 1: into my life. Help me live in faithful trust of 125 00:09:03,620 --> 00:09:06,940 Speaker 1: your love and your presence. Give me the boldness to 126 00:09:07,020 --> 00:09:13,010 Speaker 1: follow where you lead. Amen. How did tonight's scripture speak 127 00:09:13,050 --> 00:09:16,720 Speaker 1: to you? Share your thoughts in the Your Nightly Scripture 128 00:09:16,860 --> 00:09:29,180 Speaker 1: forum discussion. Thank you for listening to Your Nightly Scripture. 129 00:09:30,179 --> 00:09:35,170 Speaker 1: Tonight's scripture was read from the New International Version by Biblica. 130 00:09:36,130 --> 00:09:41,530 Speaker 1: All rights reserved. Be sure to follow our sister show, 131 00:09:41,990 --> 00:09:47,010 Speaker 1: Your Daily Bible Verse, on Apple or Spotify. By following 132 00:09:47,190 --> 00:09:51,790 Speaker 1: Your Daily Bible Verse and Your Nightly Scripture, you can 133 00:09:51,830 --> 00:09:56,200 Speaker 1: be sure that your day begins and ends centered on 134 00:09:56,220 --> 00:09:56,959 Speaker 1: the Word of God.