Remember How Far You’ve Come (Isaiah 51:1-3)

-

Sometimes it helps to remember where we’ve come from. Think for a moment of the family you were born into (or the family that took you in). Where did you grow up? Did your family stay rooted in the same place or did you move around much? What schools did you attend? Who were your friends? Did you grow up in a church? How have all these things influenced who you are today? As we are told during our Baptismal Renewal services: Remember who you are.

Isaiah speaks to people who have forgotten their own holy beginnings (Isaiah 51:1-3). “Listen to me, you that pursue righteousness, you that seek the Lord. Look to the rock from which you were hewn, and to the quarry from which you were dug” (v. 1). God reminds Israel to remember their roots, not in power or abundance, but in the small, faithful beginnings of Abraham and Sarah, who trusted in God’s promise when everything looked impossible. From one man and woman came a multitude, and from their faith came blessing upon blessing.

God’s reminder is not meant to be nostalgic. It is a call to hope. The same grace that shaped Abraham’s journey continues to reach for us today. This is God’s love already at work beneath the surface, preparing us to trust again. Even when the world feels like a wilderness, God promises to make “Zion’s wilderness like Eden, her desert like the garden of the Lord” (v. 3). Grace moves quietly, turning dry ground into fertile soil, despair into delight, desolation into joy.

Our response is to remember, to trust, and to join in the renewing work God is doing. Justifying grace anchors us in God’s mercy through Christ, restoring our hearts to right relationship. Sanctifying grace leads us onward, forming in us the holiness that reflects God’s own hope for the world. When we open ourselves to this grace, even small steps of faith become seeds of restoration.

God invites us to look back (not to stay there) but to see how far grace has carried us and how faithful God has been. The past is our proof that God can make beauty grow from barren soil. And the future? It’s still in bloom. So, if you feel worn or uncertain, remember the rock from which you were hewn. Remember the grace that has carried you this far. And trust that the same God who began a good work in you is still shaping, still restoring, still calling you forward into life.

A Spiritual Practice for Today
Take a few minutes to reflect on a time when God brought life out of a barren or difficult season. Thank God for that transformation and ask for renewed trust that grace is still at work in the places that feel dry or barren now.

Questions for Reflection and Action

1.      What does it mean for you to “look to the rock from which you were hewn”?

2.     Where have you seen God’s restoring grace at work in your life?

3.     How might you cooperate with God’s work of renewal in your community?

4.    What wilderness in your life might God be turning into a garden?

Journaling Prompt
Write about a time when you experienced God bringing hope, healing, or new growth after a season of loss or uncertainty. What changed in you through that experience?

Blessing
May you remember the grace that has shaped you.
May you trust the God who is still restoring you.
And may your wilderness begin to bloom with hope.

Prayer
Gracious God, thank you for your faithfulness through every season. Help me to see your hand in the places that feel barren and to trust your grace working quietly in me. Renew my heart and make me a vessel of your restoring love, that my life might bear witness to your transforming grace. Amen.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

An Unshakable Life: Holiness in a World of Distraction

-
  An Unshakable Life: Holiness in a World of Distraction Amos 8:1-12, Colossians 1:15-28, Luke 10:38-42 EUMC & BCUMC, July 20, 2025, Proper 11c An important theme in today's texts is Staying Focused on Priorities – Staying Focused on the Moment. Today's Gospel text – the story about Martha and Mary – is often unfairly and incorrectly used to say devotion to Christ is more important than service. That's not what's happening here. Jesus values service and action – remember the Parable of the Good Samaritan that comes right before this – context is important. The Greek word used here is diakonos (meaning “servant” or “minister”) and it embodies the Christian calling to live out faith through service. It reflects the church’s mission to care for others through acts of charity, compassion, and justice. This sacred responsibility takes many forms: humanitarian aid, working for social justice, and outreach to vulnerable communities. Diakonia, this service) isn...
Read more

An Inconvenient Gospel

-
  July 13, 2025 – EUMC & BCUMC – Proper 10, Ord 15 Deuteronomy 30:9-14 and Psalm 25:1-10, Colossians 1:1-14, Luke 10:25-37 Alan Swartz Have you ever wondered if good is good enough? I think of myself as a good person. I imagine all of us here today think of ourselves as good people. Isn’t that what God wants? I know I am a much better person than Adolph Hitler, or Joseph Stalin, or Jeffrey Dahmer. I mean, these were notoriously evil people. That is an easy comparison. Maybe I need to look around and see how I compare with others more like myself. I could check the social media feeds of other clergy or good Christian people that I know and see how I stack up. Ah, but the problem there is that I start to look and act an awful lot like the Pharisee who went to pray in the temple and seeing the sinner praying next to me I could plead, “Lord, I thank you that I am not like him!” (Luke 18:11) What am I to do? Bishop Gwinn encouraged pastors and church leaders to read the bo...
Read more

Choose Life - Grace That Empowers Decision

-
  Choose Life - Grace That Empowers Decision September 7, 2025 – Proper 18, Year C – EUMC & BCUMC Scripture Texts: Deuteronomy 30:15-20; Psalm 1; Philemon 1:1-21; Luke 14:25-33 Introduction: Standing at the Crossroads Every day we make choices. Some are trivial—what to wear, what to eat for breakfast. Others carry weight that extends far beyond the moment. We choose careers that shape decades of our lives. We choose relationships that define our hearts. We choose words that can heal or wound. But among all the choices we face, there is one that stands above all others—a choice so fundamental that it determines the very meaning of our existence. Today’s scriptures present us with this ultimate choice, painted in the starkest possible terms: two ways of living that lead to vastly different destinations. From Moses’ final charge to the people of Israel to Jesus’ radical call to discipleship, we see the same profound truth echoing through the ages. God places before...
Read more