But now, this is what the Lord says—he who created you, Jacob, he who formed you, Israel: “Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze. For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior. (Isaiah 43:1-3 NIV)
Long ago, God’s people would say, “I lift up my eyes to the mountains.” Doesn’t that sound nice? We have some members visiting the mountains right now for spring break. I could go for that! But that’s not what God’s people were talking about. “I lift up my eyes to the mountains—where does my help come from?” Why would they look at mountains? Well, when you look at mountains, what direction do your eyes go? Up. Where does our help come from? Up. “My help comes from the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth” (Psalm 121:1-2). It’s good to look up.
That’s harder than it sounds. Where do we usually look? In the mirror. Don’t we spend a lot of time looking in the mirror? Literally and figuratively, we are always looking at ourselves. Or a screen. If we’re not looking at ourselves, how often aren’t we looking at a screen? All day long! But, for some reason, it doesn’t make us feel good, does it? The more you look in a mirror or at a screen, you start to look one direction. Down. You realize your inadequacies. Your sins. Your failings. What you don’t have… Down. We spend a lot of time looking down, don’t we?
So God has a habit that we don’t like. God has a habit of putting us on our backs. God has a habit of humbling us, of throwing life into confusion, of laying us flat. Maybe in a hospital bed. Maybe staring up at an accident. Maybe laying awake at night and not being able to sleep. Maybe lying down in pain. God has a habit of putting us on our backs. Why? When you’re on your back, what’s the only direction you can look? Up. Troubles in life are God’s way of letting us see him. When the mirrors and the screens and the guilt and the burdens of life have you looking down, don’t be surprised if you end up on your back. So that you look up and see God.
That’s what happened to the Israelites long ago. Instead of looking to God, they looked to idols and themselves and everything other than God. So God put them on their backs. Not in a hospital bed. For them, it was exile. God allowed other nations to defeat the Israelites. The survivors were taken into captivity. Can you imagine how traumatic that must have been? God did it to teach them a lesson. One chapter earlier, Isaiah wrote: “Who handed Jacob over to become loot, and Israel to the plunderers? Was it not the LORD, against whom we have sinned?” (Isaiah 42:24). They were on their backs. They had no place to look but up. Was there any hope for them?
Of course there was! After humbling them, God had a message for his people. If ever you find yourself with nowhere to look but up, God says: “But now, this is what the LORD says—he who created you, Jacob, he who formed you, Israel…” The good news starts with this: God created you. God formed you. You’re not a mistake. You’re not an accident. God created you. If there’s something going wrong in your body right now, God knows. Doctors might not understand. But God does. He can fix it. God knows exactly what you need today. You’re God’s creation!
That means your life has purpose and meaning. I know it doesn’t always feel that way. I know it feels like you’re going through the motions and nothing matters and nobody cares… That couldn’t be further from the truth! The fact that God created you and formed you means that God has plans for you. Everything you do matters to God. A couple of Wednesdays ago, we heard this verse in our Lenten service: “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters” (Colossians 3:23). Don’t ever think there’s no reason for you to be here. Everything you do matters to God. God created you and formed you to live for him.
That makes every single person special. God created you! But God did something more. To his people who had sinned against him again and again, God said, “Do not fear, for I have redeemed you.” The word “redeemed” means to “buy back.” It had great significance for those Israelites in captivity. God had already planned to buy them back. That word has great significance for our salvation. Jesus has redeemed us. Jesus redeemed us by dying on the cross. He bought us back from sin, death, and the devil. “Do not fear, for I have redeemed you.” What beautiful words!
Because here’s the result: “I have summoned you by name; you are mine.” If Jesus bought us with his death on the cross, whom do we belong to? Jesus! He has summoned you by name. There are 8 billion people in the world, but Jesus knows you by name. He knows every detail of your life from the color of your hair to your favorite music to the burdens on your heart. Jesus looks at you and smiles and says, “You are mine.” You know those little candy hearts that people give out at Valentine’s Day? God has one for you: “You are mine.” This is why God sometimes puts us on our backs. So we look up to him. “He who created you, Jacob, he who formed you, Israel: ‘Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine.’”
I love how Martin Luther described Jesus in his Small Catechism. “He has redeemed me, a lost and condemned creature, purchased and won me from all sins, from death, and from the power of the devil, not with gold or silver but with his holy, precious blood and with his innocent suffering and death. All this he did that I should be his own, and live under him in his kingdom, and serve him in everlasting righteousness, innocence, and blessedness, just as he has risen from death and lives and rules eternally. This is most certainly true.” Isn’t that good news?
So all our troubles are over. Life is going to be easy from now on, right? Or so we think. Notice what God says next. After all these beautiful gospel promises, God says, “When you pass through the waters…” Even though you are created by God and redeemed by God and belong to God, you are still going to have to pass through the waters. God’s not talking about swimming lessons. What is he talking about? Troubles. Car accidents. Unexpected bills. Heartache. Sickness. Do you face those? Don’t be surprised when you have to pass through the waters.
But you won’t ever pass through them alone. Listen: “When you pass through the waters, I will be with you.” Notice that God doesn’t promise: “When you pass through the waters, they will be over quick.” Or, “When you pass through the waters, it won’t be that bad.” Or, “When you pass through the waters, I’ll make it fun for you!” No. He promises: “When you pass through the waters, I will be with you.” Whatever waters you’re passing through, I don’t know how long they will last. I don’t know if they will get better or worse. But I know this: God is with you. Always.
Even when the waters get deeper. God continues, “And when you pass through the rivers…” Now we’re not just talking about a little water—or a little trouble. Now we’re talking really big stuff: Rivers! Maybe cancer. Or the hospital. Or divorce. Or a lost job. You look out, and you see this big river that seems impossible to cross. No bridge. No end in sight. There are moments when you think, “There’s no way this can turn out okay. There’s no way I’m going to make it.”
But it’s not just you, remember? God is with you! And here’s his promise: “And when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you.” That makes me think of when we take our little kids swimming. They can’t swim, so if they are going to keep their heads above water, what has to happen? I have to hold them up. The whole time! If the water gets deeper, do they have to swim harder? No. They can’t swim! If the water gets deeper, what happens? I hold them higher so that the water doesn’t go over their head. Staying above the water depends on me, not them.
That’s a picture of God our Father and you and me. When the waters get deeper, God doesn’t shout from the shore: “Swim harder!” No, he’s in the water with us. Actually, he’s holding us up. When the waters get deeper, he holds us up higher. Have you heard the saying, “God won’t give you more than you can handle?” That’s a total lie! Here’s the truth: God won’t give you more than he can handle. Trust in him! He’s good for it. God once parted the Red Sea. God made the Jordan River stop flowing. “When you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you.”
God gives us one more comforting picture: “When you walk through the fire…” Fire and water are opposites. It’s like God is saying, “From this side all the way to this side, I’ve got you covered.” From water to fire to everything in between! Sometimes in life it seems like you’re putting out fires left and right. Ever feel that way? Sometimes it seems like life is burning up around you. Sometimes it feels like no matter where you step, you get burned. Like no matter what you decide, you’re going to get hurt. What about when you walk through the fire?
God’s got you: “When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze. For I am the LORD your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.” You have a Savior. The fire of sin was put out when Jesus died for you on the cross. The fire of hell has no power over those who believe in Jesus. Even the fires of life can’t touch anyone outside of God’s perfect will. Think of those three men in the fiery furnace. Remember them? Instead of burning up, what did King Nebuchadnezzar notice? There was a fourth person in the fire. He saved them. You have a Savior. Even “when you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze. For I am the LORD your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.”
Remember what I said life was like for the Israelites? They were in exile. Feeling abandoned. Forgotten. Alone. Guilty. Was that true? Well, the guilty part was true. They were guilty! But they were not abandoned, forgotten, or alone. God was with them. The One who created them had also redeemed them. The One who formed them was still holding on to them. God had forgiven them, and God would bring them back home. No matter what waters or rivers or fire they had to cross, God would bring them home. If they had been knocked flat on their backs, it was just because God wanted them to look up. Why? To see him. To trust in him.
Don’t be surprised when God knocks you on your back. He’s teaching you what he’s always been teaching his people. “I lift up my eyes to the mountains—where does my help come from? My help comes from the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth.” When you pass through the waters, God is with you! When you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned. Because you have a Savior—Jesus! He smiles and says: “Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine.”
(To listen to this sermon on my Upside-Down Savior podcast, please click HERE. To watch this sermon on my Upside-Down Savior YouTube channel, please click on the link below.)
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