Isaiah 59 -- God Suits Up & Takes The Field -- Pay Attention To His Uniform

After enumerating so many of the sins of the people of Judah and Israel, God looked but could find no one to help with all of the injustice running rampant there.  So He suited up to take the field and take care of it Himself:

“He covered Himself with goodness like armor.  He put the helmet of salvation on His head.  He put on the clothes of punishment and wrapped Himself in the coat of His strong love.”

I found that so interesting, in light of what I was reading last night in a new book entitled Tactics.  It spoke of how we see the Father from the middle of our sins.  Some would see Him as a condemner and punisher.  But He is primarily for the believer Abba – Daddy – and we are His precious children.  He loves the one who fails just as much as He loves the one who obeys.  And when we fail, He rushes to pick us up, love on us, and help us through the failure, if we’ll let Him.

Here, we have goodness and salvation as base layers of clothing, punishment covering that, and strong love as the outer shell.  I noticed that punishment was sandwiched between goodness and strong love, sort of like the cream filling of an OREO cookie.  God’s goodness and His strong love for us lead Him to use just the amount of punishment necessary to get our attention and to draw us back to Him when we sin.  If He failed to punish, we wouldn’t respect Him.  If He punished too severely, we’d give up trying.  It’s that strong love that motivates us to return to Him and try again.

Father, thank You for showing me how to be a better father through what I’ve read, and thanks for disciplining me with love when I fail You as a son.  Don’t ever stop.  I need your love and support and Your discipline so that I’ll be able to live in peace in this life.

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford