The Protector | Isaiah’s Voice | Part 8

Outreach Director and Lodge Pastor Drew Paulette continued our summer series with a message from Isaiah 43. Written to the Israelites during their exile in Babylon, this chapter offers a picture of a people living in captivity — far from home, disconnected from their identity, and uncertain of their purpose.

But God speaks through Isaiah to remind them — and us — of what is true:“But now thus says the Lord, he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: ‘Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine.” (v. 1)

Even today, as believers living as pilgrims in a world not our own, we often need this same reminder. Drew challenged us with two questions: What captivities are we living in? What cisterns are we drinking from?

We were made to glorify God — our lives a song to the Lord. But have the dry, broken cisterns of this world distracted us? Have they lured us away from our true identity and calling?

Take heart, Church: Jesus has set us free. We are no longer bound to sin or the empty promises of the world. Because of Him, we drink from the well of Living Water — one that flows in aeternum.

“Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old. Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert. The wild beasts will honor me, the jackals and the ostriches, for I give water in the wilderness, rivers in the desert, to give drink to my chosen people, the people whom I formed for myself that they might declare my praise.” (v. 18-21)