"Return to me"

Return to me. The Lord is constantly speaking to us, telling us "Return to me". 

A few days ago, I was randomly looking through the scripture to find a verse that I could add to the letter I was writing (for my grandma). Then, my eyes saw several verses that I had highlighted years ago. It was from Isaiah. 

"Remember these things, Jacob, for you, Israel, are my servant.
I have made you, you are my servant; Israel, I will not forget you.
I have swept away your offenses like a cloud, your sins like the morning mist.
Return to me, for I have redeemed you.” (Isaiah 44:21-22) 

How comforting is the Word of God...! Reading this verse felt like water for my quenched heart. 

Let's pray- Thank you, Lord, for your word. I want to return to you, Father. I've sinned and fallen astray, and I've been afraid to come before you after what I've done, after sinning against you in my body, mind, and actions. Thank you for your faithfulness and constant reassurance of grace. Thank you for reminding me that YOU are what matters most and that YOU are the main character in this story of life. Please open my heart and soul, and teach me about you. Please bless us through your word. In your name, Amen.

1. God calls us by our name- both new and old. 

"Remember these things, Jacob, for you, Israel, are my servant."  God is telling Jacob/Israel something here. It is interesting to see how God called him by the name given to him at birth "Jacob", then calls him again with the name God gave him- "Israel". 

Why did God call Jacob with both of his names? 

I think it's a way of God telling Jacob/Israel to come before Him as a WHOLE. It's a way of God reassuring Jacob/Israel that he can come before God with not just the "born again" and "new" version of himself, but can carry all of his broken, imperfect past as "Jacob" before the Lord. 

We want to get rid of our past for good, and just want to let go of all the shameful things we've done. We want to get rid of our past living in sin and continue on as the perfect, sinless human. But this is just impossible. It's easy to try and to let go of our past, but we just can't. 

But God, here, is telling Jacob that it's okay to come to the Father with the yoke of the past and all the weight of sin because He has already borne the weight of sin on the cross. We are able to enter His presence because our past name has been redeemed by Jesus' death on the cross and His resurrection. We are able to enter before God because we are clothed in the holiness of Jesus Christ, and have been given a new identity as the sons and daughters of the King.  

2. I am made his servant

"I have made you, you are my servant;" 

A glance at this verse may make you feel uncomfortable. It's great that God made me, but why a servant... really? Not a prince or a princess, not a king or queen, but a servant...? 

But actually, this verse is an assurance of freedom and comfort at difficult times. I think being God's servant means these three things: freedom, confidence, and joy. 

There is freedom when we choose to honor God in our daily lives. There is freedom when we let God take over the wheel, and when we let God become the center of our lives. While this is, in fact, crazy difficult most of the time, we are able to ask help from the Holy Spirit to strengthen and motivate us to do God's will and not ours. When we surrender ourselves to God- when we declare that God is our Lord in our everyday lives, we experience true freedom. It's hard to explain in words, but our hearts feel light and bright. Yup. 

There is confidence and there is joy in being God's servant. We know for sure that God is a faithful master who always longs for the best for all of his servants. God has already shown his faithfulness by sending his one and only son to die on our behalf. God has already shown him how much he cares for us through this ultimate show of love, so we are able to work with joy in full confidence that God will bless us and only do us good. 

3. He will not forget me

"I will not forget you"

Has anyone ever told you this before? I have experienced so many "hello"s and "goodbye"s throughout my whole life with missionaries coming and going all the time. Some became my closest friends, while some did not. Whatever the case, I was used to people leaving me. It was hard on me growing up, especially during the end of elementary school and middle school years. It was pretty difficult to lose friends after several months of a very close friendship. When I entered high school, I learned how to keep distance with these people who I knew would leave me after a month or a year, just to protect myself from all the sadness and loneliness after losing those who had become so dear to me. 

People say "I won't forget out time together" or "I won't forget my time here" or "I won't forget the people I've met here"... but in reality, they do forget. I forget. They forget. We all forget. We all just become memories of the past or mere "friends" on FaceBook. But God doesn't. 

No matter how distant we feel from God, no matter how great our sins are, no matter what we've done, no matter what the world tell us, God will not forget us. Nothing can separate us from His love. 

"For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Romans 8:36-39)

4. He's swept away my sins

"I have swept away your offenses like a cloud, your sins like the morning mist."

Here's a confession: I've been carrying a burden in my heart these past several weeks. It's like a mixture of shame and guilt from my sins and a realization that a part of me (a huge part of me) is enjoying the sin. I've been flirting with evil. I repeatedly made these excuses like, "God will forgive me" or "I can do this my own way". 

While I go to church and hear a powerful sermon, sing worship songs that are mellow to my ears, and have "Christian" conversations with my friends, there's a part of me who is living in the shadows. There's a part of me that is so afraid of the light- unable to move in fear that it will expose my deepest sins that are rotting under the desperate attempt to fix things on my own. 

By the mercy and guidance of the Holy Spirit, I have become more aware of my tendency to fall into the same kind of sin and shame. It has a lot to do with relationships with the people around me, and my being so consumed in myself that I forget that it's not about me. 

While it is easy to fall in the downward spiral of sin and shame, God is pulling us up into his presence, into his forgiveness through these words: "I have swept away your offenses like a cloud, your sins like the morning mist." God is telling us that he's already swept away our offenses and sins, just like clouds and the morning mist. Oh, how amazing is His grace. 

5. He has redeemed me

"Return to me, for I have redeemed you.”

The Lord speaks to us and tells us to return to Him. There are no charges against us because Jesus had already borne our sins and suffered all the punishment on our behalf. Our Saviour, whom we are able to call ou dear, dear friend Jesus Christ is declaring over our hearts that He has redeemed me. Jesus is declaring over us that He has redeemed us, and is calling our names, both old and new, to return to Him. 

"Remember these things, Jacob, for you, Israel, are my servant.
I have made you, you are my servant; Israel, I will not forget you.
I have swept away your offenses like a cloud, your sins like the morning mist. Return to me, for I have redeemed you.” (Isaiah 44:21-22)

We are able to run into the arms of our Father without any guilt or shame. Though we may not forget our past life living in sin, we are set free from the chains of sin and welcomed into the joy, the confidence, and the freedom in the Love of our Father.