Day 19 xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
God’s Chosen One Hear, O Jacob my servant, Israel whom I have chosen! Thus says the Lord who made you, who formed you in the womb and will help you: Do not fear, O Jacob my servant, Jeshurun whom I have chosen. For I will pour water on the thirsty land, and streams on the dry ground; I will pour my spirit upon your descendants, and my blessing on your offspring.
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They shall spring up like a green tamarisk, like willows by flowing streams. This one will say, “I am the Lord’s,” another will be called by the name of Jacob, yet another will write on the hand, “The Lord’s,” and adopt the name of Israel. Isaiah 44:1–5 nrsv
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od isn’t just in heaven; he is everywhere—he lives with his people. Just before Babylon conquered Judah for its idolatry, the prophet Jeremiah predicted that a day would come when God’s commands would be written on the hearts of Israel. Nearly seventy years before Jeremiah, Isaiah had also predicted the same thing, that God would send his Holy Spirit to live in his people. Their lives could never be the same after that. They would become fruitful and abundant. God compared his Spirit’s coming infusion into his people to a stream watering willow trees. Jeshurun was another name for Israel. It was used only in poetry. And even then, it was used only four times in the entire Bible, three times in Deuteronomy and once, here, in Isaiah. It was a diminutive, a term of endearment, taken from a Hebrew word that meant “upright.” Jeshurun could therefore be translated as “little upright one.” Writing the words The Lord’s on a hand was a reference to the original covenant between Israel and God, when God told the people they would write his law on their hands and forehead (Deuteronomy 6). In Jewish practice, this led to the phylacteries. Phylacteries were little boxes containing scripture that were tied about the hands and head when people prayed. Before the captivity, the people worshipped other gods and were distracted by everything else around them. After the captivity, they would have God as their focus. At last, they would be able to love both God and their neighbors as themselves when God came upon them. Our lives can never be the same after God puts himself in them.
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a year with god xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx