Isaiah 51:12 I, even I, am he that comforteth you: who art thou, that thou shouldest be afraid of a man that shall die, and of the son of man which shall be made as grass.
Have you ever been put in a position where you felt like you were a poser, a fraud, like you were faking things? Maybe you went to a fancy, expensive restaurant. You looked at the cars that were being parked by the valet, you looked at how the people were dressed in the restaurant, how sophisticated they seemed to be, and you looked at the menu items. Perhaps you thought, “What am I doing here? I don’t even know what this food is. I don’t have the money to pay for it. I don’t belong here.”
Maybe you have felt that way. If we are honest with ourselves, and if we have any sense of modesty whatsoever, nothing should make us feel more like a fake or a poser than to consider our position before God if we have trusted the Lord Jesus as our Savior. When we belong to God, the benefits are so much greater than anything we could ever deserve, yet Isaiah turns our natural instincts and thoughts on their heads.
In Isaiah 51:12 Isaiah is talking to God’s people who had been in captivity. They had suffered judgment from God because they belonged to Him, and God said, “I, even I, am he that comforteth you: who art thou, that thou shouldest be afraid of a man that shall die, and of the son of man which shall be made as grass?” God is saying, “I am the One Who comforts. Who in the world are you to fear?” In other words, we would say, “I have no right to have comfort,” and God says, “No, you have no right to fear.”
He is writing about comfort. “For the LORD shall comfort Zion,” the Bible says in verse 3. God tells these people to look back to Abraham, “the rock whence ye are hewn, and to the hole of the pit whence ye are digged.” Basically God is saying, “Remember Abraham? You are like a chip off the old block. I made a great nation of a barren couple. I promised Abraham and Sarah a great nation when they weren’t even parents. If I could do that, then who are you to fear?”
In verse 13 God essentially says, “You have forgotten the Lord your Maker, the God Who spoke the world into existence. You have no right to fear when I have this power of creation.” In verse 15, God reminds them, “But I am the LORD thy God, that divided the sea, whose waves roared: the LORD of hosts is his name.” This terrifying God brought Israel out of Egypt and parted the Red Sea. He would later part the waters of the Jordan. What God is saying is, “If I was mighty enough to deliver you from Egypt, I am mighty enough to raise up Babylon and to diminish the same.”
In short, when you belong to God, you have no right to live in lack of what God offers. Maybe today you have a decision to make and you feel like you are in the dark. It is not right for us to be in the dark when God offers guidance. Ask Him for it. It is not a matter of your being entitled to God. It is a matter of God being entitled to you. “Thou art my people,” God said. It is not a matter of what we own. It is a matter of Who owns us. Because God owns us, we don’t have a right to live in lack when God offers grace.
Maybe we are living in worry. We have no right to live in worry when God offers comfort and peace. Maybe we live in lack of money or something else we need. I’m not suggesting that God is a God of health, wealth, and no problems. To the contrary, God allows our problems for the very purpose that we will look to Him and see no greater good than God Himself. We are told to pray for daily bread and to give thanks in everything.
So, today, whatever you need, remember that when you belong to God, you have no right to ignore God and to live on your own. We have the privilege of seeking God for our daily needs because we belong to Him.