Mar 6 - Isaiah 54.4

Do not fear, for

you will not be ashamed.

Isaiah 54:4

What do we normally fear? Death.

• We're afraid of heights because we might fall and die.
• We're afraid of air flights because we might crash and die.
• We're afraid of spiders and snakes because they're just plain creepy. (And they might bite us and we'd die.)

Shame is a different kind of death. It's a little death.

• Someone says something shameful about us -- gossip -- and it kills our good name.
• We do something embarrassing, and it kills our credibility.
• Past indescretions are made public, and we're so ashamed that we want to die. 

In Isaiah 54, God is talking about restoring Israel. They've been sinful. They've been conquered. They've been scattered. Their former glory is now a pitance. They are beaten, bloodied, exiled, and ashamed. 

God is saying, When I forgive you, restore you, and bring you home, "4 you will forget the shame of your youth." In fact, he says, I will be "5 your husband ... your redeemer ... 8 with everlasting love I will have compassion on you."

No matter how many little deaths and shames and indiscretions you have made, when you turn to God, he will bless you. Through his grace "4 you will forget the shame of your youth." In fact, he says, I will be "5 your husband ... your redeemer ... and 8 with everlasting love I will have compassion on you."

Do not fear.

In Christ's Love,

Captain Invincable

(I've died with Christ,

now the world can't harm me)