It’s your sins that have cut you off from God. Because of your sins. He has turned away and will not listen anymore. Isaiah 59:2 (NLT)
This is an awful text. It starts with bad news. Our sins have cut us off from God.
Some of us, by our own choices, are disconnected from God. For some of us it was just the birthright that we received. And I know that some of us live in this existence where we feel cut off from God, like He’s turned his back on us. You may read this verse and feel worse about yourself. But don’t let this verse discourage you, because I skipped a verse. And you don’t get to verse two without reading verse one. And here’s what verse one says.
Listen. The Lord’s arm is not too weak to save you. Nor is his ear too deaf to hear your call. Isaiah 59:1(NLT)
God has done everything to save you and to hear you, to make connection with him a reality for you today. I hope that you will not feel disconnected from God anymore, but feel like He is part of your life. Because verse one makes it very clear that he has that power. He’s done everything necessary. If you feel disconnected from God, just know that feeling is not your reality. It’s how you feel, but the truth of how God sees you has nothing to do with how you feel about yourself. Know this:
God is trying to connect with you.
It’s a biblical concept called reconciliation. Taking things that are separated and bringing them back together. Okay, here’s a definition from Google:
THE RESTORATION OF FRIENDLY RELATIONS
Because of our sinful choices, we’re separated from God. We have an unfriendly relationship with God.
When I was in elementary school, there was a girl named Darla. She and I had an unfriendly relationship. She was a bully and would make fun of me. And I wanted to be friends with everybody because that’s what my parents taught me. Don’t treat anybody badly.
“Milton Bradley, You smell so badly.” That was one of the ways she would mock me. One time we were studying the geography of the Northeast and we were studying the different mountain ranges. Now, I was always a fluffier young man in school. And as we were going through the different mountains, reading and taking turns, we came to some mountains in Maine. There’s a mountain called the White Mountain. Darla looked over to me and said, “That’s you, Milton.” Have you ever had an unfriendly relationship like that?
This is kind of the reality we have with God. We have this relationship that we’re just not together. And God’s intention is to end that unfriendly relationship by having reconciliation, that you and I would be reunited with God and we would have that relationship again, just like he always intended. He created you to be in connection with him. That’s who you’re supposed to be. But some of us aren’t. And that’s where reconciliation comes in.
To hear Chaplain Milton share more on this topic click here: https://youtube.com/live/VK8tCoi8c30
