March 3, 2012
Today’s reading from Encounter with God

A Great Big God!

Please see the links to our EXTRA Bible Study notes at the bottom of the page.

Opening Prayer

Living Lord, I don’t want to remain content with the things of the “here and now.” Today, lift my mind to things eternal.

Read Isaiah 51:1-8

For additional translations of the passage, use this link to Bible Gateway.

[1] “Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness and who seek the LORD: Look to the rock from which you were cut and to the quarry from which you were hewn; [2] look to Abraham, your father, and to Sarah, who gave you birth. When I called him he was but one, and I blessed him and made him many. [3] The LORD will surely comfort Zion and will look with compassion on all her ruins; he will make her deserts like Eden, her wastelands like the garden of the LORD. Joy and gladness will be found in her, thanksgiving and the sound of singing. [4] “Listen to me, my people; hear me, my nation: The law will go out from me; my justice will become a light to the nations. [5] My righteousness draws near speedily, my salvation is on the way, and my arm will bring justice to the nations. The islands will look to me and wait in hope for my arm. [6] Lift up your eyes to the heavens, look at the earth beneath; the heavens will vanish like smoke, the earth will wear out like a garment and its inhabitants die like flies. But my salvation will last forever, my righteousness will never fail. [7] “Hear me, you who know what is right, you people who have my law in your hearts: Do not fear the reproach of men or be terrified by their insults. [8] For the moth will eat them up like a garment; the worm will devour them like wool. But my righteousness will last forever, my salvation through all generations.”

Scripture taken from the Holy Bible, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 International Bible Society. All rights reserved throughout the world. Used by permission of International Bible Society.

Reflect

“Christ can turn our weaknesses into strength by his help; our struggles may become victorious by his grace; our problems may be solved by his wisdom” (Peter Marshall).

How do we know what God is like? In part, we know by looking back at his great acts, and seeing that he is the same God today as he was then. This must have been particularly important for people reading this second part of Isaiah while languishing in exile and longing for God to act again in power to bring them back to their homeland. They are to look back in order to look forward, to see the kind of God who brought the nation to birth in the first place in order to give them hope for a new birth as a people.

What does looking back tell us? It tells us that God takes a lone man and turns him into a great nation, and takes a barren woman and makes her the mother of many. This is a God who makes the desert bloom, who makes desolate places become like a well-watered garden. In view of God’s power, even the most lasting of thingsﾗthe heavens and the earthﾗseem passing and ephemeral. In view of God’s plans to save his people, even the most daunting of enemies will pass away and be forgotten.

The pattern in the Old Testament is the pattern we find in Jesus. This is a God who takes the rejection by his people of the anointed one, the Messiah, and turns it into the ultimate act of redemption. He takes the final point of failure by his people and out of it gives his people a new power of obedience. Even as they fail to recognize his hand at work, he fulfills all his ancient promisesﾗnot only to his people themselves, but to all the nations of the world, as his grace overflows to them in ways they could not have imagined.

Apply

Consider some of the challenges and trials you’ve faced recently. How do they look from God’s perspective? How do they look alongside God’s wider plans for you?

Closing prayer

Gracious God, it is such an encouragement to know You are a turn-around God. You have the last word in all things. You can turn defeat into victory.

Click here to sign up to receive the EXTRAs via email each quarter.

© 2025 Scripture Union U.S.A. All rights reserved. Reproduction of the whole or any part of the contents without written permission is prohibited.

Encounter with God is published in the USA under license from Scripture Union England and Wales, Trinity House, Opal Court, Opal Drive, Fox Milne, Milton Keynes, MK15 0DF.

View all readings

Get ENCOUNTER:

in your email:

in Print:

Become a Member | Visit our store