Today (week 2 day 5), she had us read Isaiah 45:8-12 for questions 1 (see the bottom of the post if you’d like to see the passage) and identify the main idea in the passage.
a. What is the big picture here? What is God trying to say?
Trusting God in all things. While we might question those things that go on around us, or even the world as a whole, we need to remember to never doubt God, who He is, or what He has done. It’s in the doubts that creep in that we can lose sight of the bigger picture that God is ALWAYS in control and His plan for each one of us is bigger than anyone of us could ever compute.
b. If you do what this passage says, what will your life look like? If you don’t do what it says, what could happen?
I kind of chuckled thinking about this question. What would my life look like if I followed what THIS passage said? I think I’d have an unmovable faith where no matter what happened in my life my faith would never once falter. I’d always know without any shadow of doubt that God was always there. His plan would be easy to believe in. I’d have no lack of trust.
I think we all falter, even if only a little, because we’re human. Satan sees our weaknesses and exploits them. We must continually fight off the evil one so our Heavenly Father can always protect us through all things.
c. What does God want you to walk away with more than anything else today?
To leave the doubts behind me. I know this isn’t easy as I have so many continually zooming through my head. It’s like a smorgasbord of doubts. I need to always remember God is the ultimate Doubt Buster. He can wipe any of them away and show me the path, the way He has planned for me to go forward in my life. I MUST trust Him in ALL things.
NIV1
8 “You heavens above, rain down my righteousness;
let the clouds shower it down.
Let the earth open wide,
let salvation spring up,
let righteousness flourish with it;
I, the Lord, have created it.
9 “Woe to those who quarrel with their Maker,
those who are nothing but potsherds
among the potsherds on the ground.
Does the clay say to the potter,
‘What are you making?’
Does your work say,
‘The potter has no hands’?
10 Woe to the one who says to a father,
‘What have you begotten?’
or to a mother,
‘What have you brought to birth?’
11 “This is what the Lord says—
the Holy One of Israel, and its Maker:
Concerning things to come,
do you question me about my children,
or give me orders about the work of my hands?
12 It is I who made the earth
and created mankind on it.
My own hands stretched out the heavens;
I marshaled their starry hosts.”
(potsherd = broken piece of pottery, essentially worthless)
ICB2
8 “Sky above, make victory fall like rain.
Clouds, pour down victory.
May the earth receive it.
May salvation grow.
May victory grow with it.
I, the Lord, have created it.
9 “How terrible it will be for those who argue with the God who made them.
They are like one piece of broken pottery among many pieces.
The clay does not ask the potter,
‘What are you doing?’
The thing that is made doesn’t say to its maker,
‘You have no hands.’
10 How terrible it will be for the child who says to his father,
‘Why are you giving me life?’
How terrible it will be for the child who says to his mother,
‘Why are you giving birth to me?’”
11 The Lord is the Holy One of Israel, and its Maker.
He says this:
“You ask me about what will happen.
You question me about my children.
You give me orders about what I have made.
12 I made the earth.
And I made all the people living on it.
With my own hands I stretched out the skies.
I command all the armies in the sky.”
The Voice3
8 Skies above, open up and let the clouds rain down righteousness!
Let the earth below sprout triumph and justice.
For I, the Eternal, have created them.
9 How bad it will be for anyone who disputes with the very One who created him!
After all, a human being is nothing more than one clay pot among many.
Imagine the clay saying to the potter, “What do you think you’re doing?”
or “You don’t have the hands for this.”
10 It’s as idiotic as asking a mother or father,
“What are you birthing or begetting?”
11 So the Eternal One, who is the Holy One and Maker of Israel, says,
Eternal One: Are you really going to question Me about what will happen to My children,
or lecture Me about what I should do with the ones I made with My own hands?
12 It is I who made the very ground on which you stand,
I who shaped the human beings who walk around on it.
I pulled the sky and the heavens taut with My own hands,
and organized the army of stars that march across the night sky.
1 NIV: Scriptures taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com The “NIV” and “New International Version” are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.™
2 Scripture taken from the International Children’s Bible®. Copyright © 1986, 1988, 1999 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
3 Scripture taken from The Voice™. Copyright © 2008 by Ecclesia Bible Society. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
