Spring forwards by Pastor Paul Asbury
Isaiah 55: 10-11
As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.
2020 is underway and as we step into March, I’ve already had several conversations asking “Where is the year going?” Christmas is a fading memory and the New Year, often a time when we seek God for fresh direction and vision, has come and gone. It’s perhaps now, after the first challenges of the year have come our way, that we need to take encouragement from this famous passage in Isaiah. Especially if we’re still waiting to see the fulfilment of what God has promised. Here are a few thoughts that might help.
God’s invisible, supernatural word is more sure than the visible, natural processes that we see around us every day. If God has really said it, then we can be certain that he will bring it to pass. Perhaps there is a response we need to make to what God has said, but ultimately, we can rest in his promises to us.
God’s word causes us to bud and flourish. It brings us life. Everything that God speaks to us builds us up and equips us for the work he’s called us to. Even when we don’t like what we hear and circumstances look like they’re the precise opposite of what God has said, he is working for our good.
It’s impossible for God’s word to fail. Ultimately, God’s word is Jesus, who was sent to accomplish everything needed to bring us back into relationship with the Father. After achieving everything he was sent for, Jesus returned to the Father’s right hand. Beyond every other word that God has spoken to us, he firstly and most importantly spoke to us through his Son Jesus.
If God has already given us his best, we can be confident that he will fulfil everything he has promised us.