Day 264, 22nd May: Isaiah, Galatians and Proverbs

What are We About?
By Gemma Foster, Soul Survivor

Todays Readings Are:
Isaiah 49:8-51:16
Galatians 6:1-18
Proverbs 23:10-18

Have you ever felt like you were a million miles away from home? In a strange place, on your own, wondering if anyone back home is thinking about you or whether everyday life is just going on and no-one’s noticed you’ve gone?

At this point in Isaiah, Israel find themselves a long way from home! In fact its feels like they could not be further away from being God’s chosen people in the Promised Land. But God hasn’t forgotten them even though they forgot Him and went off in their own direction.
It’s easily done, isn’t it? Life is busy with lots of distractions all around – TV, relationships, exams, stress at work… all this stuff constantly buzzing around us and it’s easy to lose track of who we are and what we’re about. It’s easy to wonder off and find ourselves a long way from God. But He never forgets who we are – how could he? As He reminds Israel “Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion for the child she has borne?” He is waiting for us to look to Him and He reminds us that He is never going to give up on us.

The passage in Proverbs starts with a warning “Do not move an ancient boundary stone or encroach on the fields of the fatherless, for their Defender is strong; he will take up their case against you.” God is against poverty, oppression, injustice and loneliness and He calls His people to join Him in doing something about it! This is our identity – this is who we are. Not to spend our lives looking out for ourselves but instead “as we have opportunity… do good to all people.”

It then moves on to encourage us to live obediently and not to be jealous of those around us. This is because as we live a life like Paul says to the Galatians “carry[ing] each other’s burdens“ we find that by loving, serving and giving to those around us we find a way of living that brings us closer to God and people around us – more than anything else does.

So let us today remember who we are, and remember what we’re about and so “let us not grow weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.”

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Today’s picture was taken by…
Hannah Hereward. Thanks Hannah!

If you’d like to take your own picture to potentially be featured on the blog, then get your Soul Survivor Bible in One Year, and take a picture of yourself – and your Bible – at some interesting or colourful location. Then email it to us at editor@soulsurvivor.com.

The pictures will need to be a pretty good resolution (we use 640px by 360 px so at least as big as that), landscape photos work best and if you include the day of the reading in the picture then make sure you send it to us a good few days before that reading, so we have time to include it in that day’s post! We’ll credit all photographers!