The Father Who Renews & Restores You: A Devotional in Isaiah
Pastor Brad Abley: Biblical Educator
Pastor’s Corner
A Devotional in Isaiah
“Behold, the former things have come to pass, Now I declare new things; Before they spring forth, I proclaim them to you. Sing to the LORD a new song, Sing His praise from the end of the earth! You who go down to the sea, and all that is in it. You islands, and those who dwell on them ”
“I waited patiently for the Lord;
And He inclined to me and heard my cry.
He brought me up out of the pit of destruction, out of the miry clay,
And He set my feet upon a rock making my footsteps firm.
He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God; Many will see and fear and will trust in the Lord”
“For whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction, so that through perseverance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.”
The Father Who Renews & Restores You
Beloved,
We have – you have – a Father who loves to renew and restore His children, His sons and His daughters in Christ Jesus. In His providential timing, it wouldn’t surprise me if in reading this now, you need renewal from Him.
If that’s the case, the above passages are therefore going to be very timely for you. Dig deeply into them, because you’ll be amazed when you see their depth! The Hebrew word translated “new” in our passages above – hadash – means to renew, restore, rebuild, repair, or refresh.
Please think carefully on this definition, this insight of who God your Father is and what He does. And when He does this in your life, you can and will testify (and surely, so many of you have already testified) that no one can do these things like our God. No one.
As I'm writing this, I feel like it's a sacred moment for you. I know that it is for me. And for that reason, I believe the best way to apply what we've learned in just these two paragraphs is to pray with thanksgiving and confidence the words we've just seen before we continue.
But I believe it's important to pray it out loud to the Father where you're sitting. Would you please do that -- even if you find it uncomfortable?
Prayer:
Father, I agree with what I'm learning -- whether I feel it or not -- because it’s Your revealed truth about who You are -- otherwise, I could never know this about You. I want to thank You that You do new things in my life according to Isaiah 42:9, and according to Psalm 40:3, You put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to You.
And so I ask You to help me according to Is. 40:10, to sing to You a new song, knowing that this will result in renewal, restoration, refreshing, a repairing, and a rebuilding in my life, because that is who You are.
J. Alec Motyer's comment on Isaiah 42:9-10 is insightful for us; he writes,
"Always a new song (Ps. 33:3; 96:1; 98:1) responds to a fresh realization or a fresh display of the goodness of God. The new song here responds to the ‘new things’ of v.9."[1]
Accordingly, it would be wise for us to get into the habit of making time to praise or worship God our Father with a song expressing our gratitude to Him for His goodness in whatever way He's revealed that to us -- whether we see that as a “small way” or a “great” way.
As you do this, son or daughter of God your heavenly Father, there’s one thing I can assure you of: In your personal time of praise and worship -- as well as in your corporate time of praise and worship with other believers -- the way you approach praise and worship will take on so much more meaning and depth.
My friend, it's when we do these things that we put ourselves in a position to receive the refreshing, the rebuilding, the repairing, the renewing, and the restoration that He seeks to give us.
Now this may come at any time, to be sure; God our Father is sovereign; He is our Shepherd; He’s active, and He knows what we need and when we need it. For these reasons, we can live with expectancy that He wants to renew and restore us.
However, from my study of Scripture and from my experience, I find that most of the time, God does these things when we choose to put ourselves in His presence in some manner -- whether that be time spent with Him in His Word, in prayer, and praise and worship, engaged in fellowship with another believer discussing the things of God, or just going out of our way to serve Him and be His blessing to others.
All this expresses the lifestyle of the believer in Jesus, who in His humanity was Himself certainly refreshed and renewed when He engaged in joyful, intensive praise and worship upon the return of His disciples, whom He sent on Mission for Him:
At that very time He rejoiced greatly in the Holy Spirit, and said, “I praise You, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and intelligent and have revealed them to infants. Yes, Father, for this way was well-pleasing in Your sight (Luke 10:21).
As our Lord rejoiced greatly in the Holy Spirit, so His disciples knew well the role of the Holy Spirit in Isaiah’s life, teaching, and ministry – including Is. 42:9-10. And this impacted their view of the joy of the Father toward them, empowering their prayer lives with the Father (Mt. 6:9).
On an equally important but broader level, the songs in Isaiah – in this case, his song in Is. 42 -- have to do with the Servant of the Lord, the coming Messiah. But even with that, those of us who are in Christ Jesus are certainly included in this, given that the broader passage focuses on the entire world (vv.10b-12).
E.J. Young's explanation on this is stirring and revealing:
[T]these are songs such as have never been heard upon earth; songs that are fitting to celebrate the wonders of the new age when the Servant of the Lord performs His matchless work of redemption. They are the songs of the redeemed, the songs of Zion, the songs of those who have been washed in the blood of the Lamb.[2]
And Barry Webb catches Isaiah's joyful intensity for v. 10, exclaiming,
[W]what could be more appropriate after the tremendous announcement of the previous passage than a great outburst of praise to God! Like the apostle Paul (cf. Rom. 11:33-36), Isaiah cannot contain himself when the glory of the gospel grips him.[3]
Beloved,
All this is written for you (Rom. 15:4), so that you might be refreshed and renewed with the awesome, life-changing power of the Word of God -- to come to know God our Father in renewed ways – always through the help of the Holy Spirit.
Perhaps it would be good to even consider meditating on what you’ve learned from today’s entry on several occasions, prayerfully seeking to get what the Holy Spirit – through Isaiah – has taught us?
Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.
9 Or what man is there among you who, when his son asks for a loaf, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, he will not give him a snake, will he?
11 If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give what is good to those who ask Him! (Mt. 7:7-11).
May the Holy Spirit also use what you’ve learned today to teach others the same, for the glory of the Father and the Son, in Jesus’ name, amen!
[1] J. Alec Motyer, The Prophecy of Isaiah: An Introduction & Commentary (Downers Grove, Ill: IVP Academic, 1993), 323-324.
[2] Edward J. Young, The Book of Isaiah, vol. 3 (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2000), 125.
[3] Webb, The Message of Isaiah, The Bible Speaks Today, ed. J.A. Motyer (Downers Grove, Ill: InterVarsity Press, 1996), 173. Webb’s reference to the apostle Paul comes from Rom. 11:33-36.
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