Isaiah 48:17 (NIV)
This is what the Lord says— your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: “I am the Lord your God, who teaches you what is best for you, who directs you in the way you should go.
I love this verse and the wisdom it imparts to us … the reminder we need each day of who God is and how He engages with us – His people:
Isaiah 48:16-19 (NIV)
16 “Come near me and listen to this: “From the first announcement I have not spoken in secret; at the time it happens, I am there.” And now the Sovereign Lord has sent me, endowed with His Spirit. 17 This is what the Lord says— your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: “I am the Lord your God, who teaches you what is best for you, who directs you in the way you should go. 18 If only you had paid attention to my commands, your peace would have been like a river, your well-being like the waves of the sea. 19 Your descendants would have been like the sand, your children like its numberless grains; their name would never be blotted out nor destroyed from before me.”
Our Father declares He is the Lord our God … our Redeemer and the Holy One! The Lord declares: “I AM HE; I AM the first and I AM the last. My own hand laid the foundations of the earth, and my right hand spread out the heavens; when I summon them, they all stand up together.” (Isaiah 48:12-13) We need to keep this perspective that God is indeed our Creator and our lives were created for HIS glory. As we come to understand that all of us have sinned and come short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23), we see our lives are in desperate need of redemption. We realize our lives are in full need of correction … a great salvation that we cannot provide for ourselves. It requires a sovereign act of forgiveness that can only come from the One who created us … through whom we receive the gift of His Holy Spirit to indwell us.
And here is the message: “I am the Lord your God, who teaches you what is best for you … who directs you in the way you should go.” Do we heed His instructions? Do we walk in the direction He shows us? The Lord pleads with us – Keep My Commandments and your peace will be like a river … your well-being like the waves of the sea! What more could He say? What more should He say? The Covenant of Love … the New Covenant … are forged in the obedience of faith. So how does the relationship of discipleship with Christ work? Consider this one pivotal lesson Jesus taught through humble, personal demonstration:
John 13:12-14 (NIV) – At the Last Supper
12 When Jesus had finished washing their feet, He put on His clothes and returned to His place. “Do you understand what I have done for you?” He asked them. 13 “You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and rightly so, for that is what I am. 14 Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet.
Oh, that every person would look to Jesus … the Master Teacher … the Light of the World … the living, everlasting Word of God … to teach us what is best for us and to direct us in the Way we should go! What would be the outcome? Peace and well-being flowing like a river within us! What did Jesus say? “Whoever believe in me, as Scripture has said, river of living water will flow from within them.” The Master Teacher said, “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the Rock.” (Cf. Matthew 7:24-25) And, “The Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.” (Cf. John 14:26) Even now, I am reminded of what the Apostle John affirmed in this regard:
1 John 2:18-29 (NKJV)
18 Little children, it is the last hour; and as you have heard that the Antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come, by which we know that it is the last hour. 19 They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us; but they went out that they might be made manifest, that none of them were of us. 20 But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you know all things. 21 I have not written to you because you do not know the truth, but because you know it, and that no lie is of the truth. 22 Who is a liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist who denies the Father and the Son. 23 Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father either; he who acknowledges the Son has the Father also. 24 Therefore let that abide in you which you heard from the beginning. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, you also will abide in the Son and in the Father. 25 And this is the promise that He has promised us—eternal life. 26 These things I have written to you concerning those who try to deceive you. 27 But the anointing which you have received from Him abides in you, and you do not need that anyone teach you; but as the same anointing teaches you concerning all things, and is true, and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you will abide in Him. 28 And now, little children, abide in Him, that when He appears, we may have confidence and not be ashamed before Him at His coming. 29 If you know that He is righteous, you know that everyone who practices righteousness is born of Him.
1 John 3:24 (NIV)
The one who keeps God’s commands lives in Him, and He in them. And this is how we know that He lives in us: We know it by the Spirit He gave us.
1 John 4:13 (NIV)
This is how we know that we live in Him and He in us: He has given us of His Spirit.
Yes, God has assured us that we can KNOW what is best for us and the direction we should go! We can know these things because He Himself teaches us these things through His Word by the Holy Spirit He has given us in Christ Jesus. Peter spoke to this when he affirmed: “His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and goodness.” (Cf. 2 Peter 1:3) And the inspired writer of the Book of Hebrews asserted: “For the Word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.” (Cf. Hebrews 4:12) And Paul addressed discernment of spiritual knowledge as well:
1 Corinthians 2:10-16 (NIV)
10 These are the things God has revealed to us by His Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. 11 For who knows a person’s thoughts except their own spirit within them? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. 12 What we have received is not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may understand what God has freely given us. 13 This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual realities with Spirit-taught words. 14 The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit. 15 The person with the Spirit makes judgments about all things, but such a person is not subject to merely human judgments, 16 for, “Who has known the mind of the Lord so as to instruct Him?” (Quoting Isaiah 64:4) But we have the mind of Christ.
Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths. ~ Proverbs 3:5-6
So Now You Know 