There Is Hope!

There is hope! Isaiah 1:21-25 is pretty dark. But there is hope.

Notice how God brings the story full circle in just a few verses. The Faithful City became a unfaithful prostitute. But God redeems and restores her as a Faithful City (1:26).

However, the process was not painless. She is taken through a painful process of judgment. Yet judgment is never intended as God's final word. Judgment is intended to produce redeeming refinement.

Is pain what God desires for us? No. When consequences do their work it may result in redemption, a recovery of the way things were in our relationship with God.

As parents, we know that sometimes discipline is necessary to break the power of sinful pride. When many parents are called to enforce discipline I have heard them say, "This will hurt me more than it hurts you" (sure it will!). Other times we

may simply call it consequences.

But God is looking forward to the time when rebellious disobedience is left behind for a redeemed relationship. When things are restored to how they were meant to be.

What needs to be painful removed from your life so you can enjoy a redeemed relationship with God?