God is — God does. Part 1 of 2
Fear not, for I am with you; Be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, Yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.’ Isaiah 41:10 NKJV.
This is a fairly well known scripture and one that has encouraged me a great deal over the years. But recently I believe the Holy Spirit revealed something more. I’ve been thinking a lot lately about God’s identity, and His activity. His identity is who He is, and His activity is what He does.
God through the prophet Isaiah says to us to fear not, and be not dismayed. Fear has the capacity to grip us. It is real but it is powerless when God is in the picture. Fear also blinds us to seeing things we should see that are there, and causes us to see things we shouldn’t see that are not there.
But the thing I noticed in this verse, is that, I am, comes before I will. He says I am with you, and I am your God. Then he says I will strengthen you, I will help you, and I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.
This is great! God, the Lord, Master of the universe, the Creator, the Almighty, Jehovah, the King of Kings; He is, then He does.
I believe this is true; we must know the great I am before we can experience His I will. Knowing the I am, puts us in position to experience the I will.
Or to put it like this. An understanding of His Identity, who God is, the I am, comes before an experience of His Activity, what He does, the I will.
Are you with me?
The I am, refers to God, who He is, His God-ness, His Divine attributes, His identity. The I will, refers to what God does, His working on the earth, or His activity.
Then I began to think about some of the miracles in the Bible. They too speak of God’s identity before His activity. Here’s some examples. In each of the miracles, the recipient calls Jesus Lord and honours His identity.
- The leper healed – And it happened when He was in a certain city, that behold, a man who was full of leprosy saw Jesus; and he fell on his face and implored Him, saying, “Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean.” Luke 5:12 NKJV.
- The centurion and his servant healed – Then Jesus went with them. And when He was already not far from the house, the centurion sent friends to Him, saying to Him, “Lord, do not trouble Yourself, for I am not worthy that You should enter under my roof. Luke 7:6 NKJV.
- Blind Bartimaeus – saying, “What do you want Me to do for you?” He said, “Lord, that I may receive my sight.” Luke 18:41 NKJV.
Here’s the crux of it. An acknowledgement of God’s Identity comes before an acquiring of His Activity.
This thought has ramifications.
We all want God to do the things He has promised. We know God is the God of the I will. When God says I will, then we can be sure He will. He is not God of the I might, I could, I should, I would, I think I can. He is God of the I will.
The trouble is, we want the I will bit to be sorted, much sooner than later, because we have needs, and we want them met. Right now. We focus on them a lot, because they are real, they look and loom large in our life, and they are ever before us like a huge mountain.
But God is bigger than every mountain. And so, we must see God as the I Am, first. He is, before He does. That’s the proper order. First surrender, then sorted. First submission (of our lives to Him, with the needs still there), them subjection (our needs come under the authority of God and are changed).
God wants to draw us into a deeper relationship with Him. He wants to meet our needs (He is our Father!), but He wants most deeply I believe to use everything going on in our lives to achieve that purpose, that we might know Him more.
We may often wonder why God has not sorted our situation which we know He can very well. It may be, that He is waiting for our absolute surrender and submission to who He is. We must first surrender to Who He is, before we can surrender to what He does.
That’s a biggie. It’s a huge thought. Surrender. Total and complete. Everything. Offered to the Lord upon the alter.
God’s Majesty comes before His Ministry. Surrender before service.
But what a wonderful perspective. Let’s lift our view of God, and see Him as He is, God, the Lord, Master of the Universe, Almighty, Jehovah, El Shaddai!
In the next Brief Word, we will look at the phrases I am the Lord your God, and that you may know that I am the Lord your God.
God knows your needs and mine. He wants to meet them and He will. However lets be quick to honour Him, to worship Him, and see Him for who He is.
That view will change everything, and His peace will flood our heart.
Photo by Alex Radelich on Pexels.com
