Grace Greater than Sin - January 7 Readings: Isaiah 40

We are going to "enter the year with praise." Our January readings and devotionals will all focus on the goodness and grace of God. Get a journal or notebook to write down your thoughts every day. Our passages are shorter - please don't rush through them. Take time to meditate and consider why God is worthy of your praise.

Enter 2020 with the praise of God on your lips!

Today's Praise Passage:  Isaiah 40

“Comfort, comfort my people,”
says your God.
2 “Speak tenderly to Jerusalem,
and announce to her
that her time of forced labor is over,
her iniquity has been pardoned,
and she has received from the Lord’s hand
double for all her sins.”
 3 A voice of one crying out:
 Prepare the way of the Lord in the wilderness;
make a straight highway for our God in the desert.
4 Every valley will be lifted up,
and every mountain and hill will be leveled;
the uneven ground will become smooth
and the rough places, a plain.
5 And the glory of the Lord will appear,
and all humanity together will see it,
for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.
 6 A voice was saying, “Cry out!”
Another said, “What should I cry out?”
“All humanity is grass,
and all its goodness is like the flower of the field.
7 The grass withers, the flowers fade
when the breath of the Lord blows on them;
indeed, the people are grass.
8 The grass withers, the flowers fade,
but the word of our God remains forever.”
 9 Zion, herald of good news,
go up on a high mountain.
Jerusalem, herald of good news,
raise your voice loudly.
Raise it, do not be afraid!
Say to the cities of Judah,
“Here is your God!”
10 See, the Lord God comes with strength,
and his power establishes his rule.
His wages are with him,
and his reward accompanies him.
11 He protects his flock like a shepherd;
he gathers the lambs in his arms
and carries them in the fold of his garment.
He gently leads those that are nursing.
 12 Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand
or marked off the heavens with the span of his hand?
Who has gathered the dust of the earth in a measure
or weighed the mountains on a balance
and the hills on the scales?
13 Who has directed the Spirit of the Lord,
or who gave him counsel?
14 Who did he consult?
Who gave him understanding
and taught him the paths of justice?
Who taught him knowledge
and showed him the way of understanding?
15 Look, the nations are like a drop in a bucket;
they are considered as a speck of dust on the scales;
he lifts up the islands like fine dust.
16 Lebanon’s cedars are not enough for fuel,
or its animals enough for a burnt offering.
17 All the nations are as nothing before him;
they are considered by him
as empty nothingness.
 18 With whom will you compare God?
What likeness will you set up for comparison with him?
19 An idol?—something that a smelter casts
and a metalworker plates with gold
and makes silver chains for?
20 A poor person contributes wood for a pedestal
that will not rot.
He looks for a skilled craftsman
to set up an idol that will not fall over.
 21 Do you not know?
Have you not heard?
Has it not been declared to you
from the beginning?
Have you not considered
the foundations of the earth?
22 God is enthroned above the circle of the earth;
its inhabitants are like grasshoppers.
He stretches out the heavens like thin cloth
and spreads them out like a tent to live in.
23 He reduces princes to nothing
and makes judges of the earth like a wasteland.
24 They are barely planted, barely sown,
their stem hardly takes root in the ground
when he blows on them and they wither,
and a whirlwind carries them away like stubble.
 25 “To whom will you compare me,
or who is my equal?” asks the Holy One.
26 Look up and see!
Who created these?
He brings out the stars by number;
he calls all of them by name.
Because of his great power and strength,
not one of them is missing.
 27 Jacob, why do you say,
and, Israel, why do you assert:
“My way is hidden from the Lord,
and my claim is ignored by my God”?
28 Do you not know?
Have you not heard?
The Lord is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the whole earth.
He never becomes faint or weary;
there is no limit to his understanding.
29 He gives strength to the faint
and strengthens the powerless.
30 Youths may become faint and weary,
and young men stumble and fall,
31 but those who trust in the Lord
will renew their strength;
they will soar on wings like eagles;
they will run and not become weary,
they will walk and not faint.

Through the Bible Reading: Genesis 15-16, Matthew 6:1-15, Psalm 5:6-12, Proverbs1:20-23

Some of our readers want a little more "meaty" devotional, so I am including a link to the through Through the Bible in One Year readings we did last year. 

Devotional: Grace Greater than Sin

Marvelous grace of our loving Lord,grace that exceeds our sin and our guilt,yonder on Calvary's mount out-poured,there where the blood of the Lamb was spilt.

Grace, grace, God's grace,grace that will pardon and cleanse within;grace, grace, God's grace,grace that is greater than all our sin.

I recently re-read a book called Exodus, by Leon Uris, in which he describes the founding of the modern nation of Israel. In one section, one of the modern Israelis explains that God chose them because as his people because he knew they would be faithful through all the years. That is almost the opposite of what the scripture says about God's work in Israel. God chose Israel, as he chooses us, to demonstrate his grace and mercy to those who are unfaithful and sinful. 

Israel turned from God and was in rebellion more than it was in obedience. They were so idolatrous and headstrong that God would actually bring the nation down in a heap - both the northern kingdom in 722 BC and Judah in 586 BC. The Old Testament teaches us that God's grace is greater than our sin. 

Isaiah 40:1 begins with God declaring, "Comfort, comfort  my people." Even though God was going to judge them for their sin he would also bring comfort. Even God's discipline was for the purpose of his eventual restoration of the people - to show them mercy and build them up. 

We are not saved because we are special or wonderful, but because God loves us. And once we are saved, God's grace is greater than our sin. I fail and so do you. We slip and fall but the Solid Rock we stand on is firm. Even when we fail, God is at work to restore and renew us, and his grace is always greater than our sin. 

Thank you, Father, for being greater than my sin, for being relentless in love and mercy. My salvation rests in your faithfulness that is greater than my failure!

Think and Pray:

Meditate on this passage and write down:

1. The character qualities of God for which you can praise him. 

2. The gracious acts of God for which you can give thanks to him. 

Have you failed in such a way that you want to give up or think perhaps God has given up on you? Remember that God's love for Israel endured through generations of their unfaithfulness and will culminate in their restoration at the last day.

Thank God for his faithful love.
Review times in your life when you failed and God restored you. Give thanks!