{"id":4654,"date":"2020-04-27T20:42:08","date_gmt":"2020-04-27T20:42:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wpmu.azurewebsites.net\/nlt\/?p=4654"},"modified":"2021-12-08T09:20:26","modified_gmt":"2021-12-08T09:20:26","slug":"where-is-god-in-suffering-day-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wpmu3.northcentralus.cloudapp.azure.com\/nlt\/2020\/04\/27\/where-is-god-in-suffering-day-3\/","title":{"rendered":"Where Is God In Suffering? Day 3"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

“This is what the\u00a0Lord\u00a0says:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

‘At just the right time, I will respond to you.
On the day of salvation I will help you.
I will protect you and give you to the people
as my covenant with them.
Through you I will reestablish the land of Israel
and assign it to its own people again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I will say to the prisoners, \u2018Come out in freedom,\u2019
and to those in darkness, \u2018Come into the light.\u2019
They will be my sheep, grazing in green pastures and on hills that were previously bare.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They will neither hunger nor thirst.
The searing sun will not reach them anymore.
For the\u00a0Lord\u00a0in his mercy will lead them;
he will lead them beside cool waters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

And I will make my mountains into level paths for them.
The highways will be raised above the valleys.
See, my people will return from far away,
from lands to the north and west,
and from as far south as Egypt.’<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sing for joy, O\u00a0heavens!
Rejoice, O\u00a0earth!
Burst into song, O\u00a0mountains!
For the\u00a0Lord\u00a0has comforted his people
and will have compassion on them in their suffering.” Isaiah 49:8-13, NLT<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Note from the Africa Study Bible<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

This passage described the time when the Jewish exiles were in a hopeless situation in Babylon. Their future seemed very dark with no hope of returning to their homeland. Isaiah prophesied that God would intervene in much the same way he did when he brought them out of Egypt. Once again they would return to their own land. Isaiah described a Servant through whom God would fulfil his promises to Israel (Isaiah 49:5). What is most striking in Isaiah\u2019s prophecy is this Servant\u2014Jesus\u2014would not only restore Israel, but also the Gentiles (Isaiah 49:6). This was in fulfilment of God\u2019s promise to Abraham that \u201call the families of the earth will be blessed through you\u201d (Genesis 12:3).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

In Christ, we see the love of God for all peoples and his plan to save people from all nations. Christ tells his followers to fulfil his plan by making disciples of all nations (Matthew 28:18). All Christians\u2014not only missionaries or pastors or deacons\u2014are part of bringing salvation to the nations. God\u2019s Servant gives freedom to the prisoners, brings light to people in darkness, restores all of God\u2019s people, and restores all of God\u2019s creation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We are called to be part of that effort. The world may seem hopeless, but the fact that Christians are in this broken world means that God is still at work. Let us regularly join with other Christians to pray for people of other nations who need physical and spiritual salvation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Look inside the Africa Study Bible<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“This is what the\u00a0Lord\u00a0says: ‘At just the right time, I will respond to you.On the day of salvation I will help you.I will protect you and give you to the peopleas my covenant with them.Through you I will reestablish the land of Israeland assign it to its own people again. I will say to the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[8,44,45,52],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpmu3.northcentralus.cloudapp.azure.com\/nlt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4654"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpmu3.northcentralus.cloudapp.azure.com\/nlt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpmu3.northcentralus.cloudapp.azure.com\/nlt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpmu3.northcentralus.cloudapp.azure.com\/nlt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpmu3.northcentralus.cloudapp.azure.com\/nlt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4654"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wpmu3.northcentralus.cloudapp.azure.com\/nlt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4654\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5677,"href":"https:\/\/wpmu3.northcentralus.cloudapp.azure.com\/nlt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4654\/revisions\/5677"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpmu3.northcentralus.cloudapp.azure.com\/nlt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4654"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpmu3.northcentralus.cloudapp.azure.com\/nlt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4654"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpmu3.northcentralus.cloudapp.azure.com\/nlt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4654"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}