Bod tattoos (literally “cuts”) the names of His people on His palms

Saturday, December 8, 2007
Read: Isaiah 49:14-16
Can a mother forget the baby at her breast? . . . Though she may forget, I will not forget you! - Isaiah 49:15
TODAY IN THE WORD

God tattoos (literally “cuts”) the names of His people on His palms (v. 16). Like a perfect mother, God will not, cannot, forget His children. Those engravings on His palms remain to this day in the hands of Jesus, forever scarred from the cross.

THe Holy Spirit, the Comforter ( the mothering side of God )

TODAY IN THE WORD
Tuesday, December 4, 2007
Read: Isaiah 66:5-13 (A precursor to the Holy Spirit)

Although we live in a fallen and broken world, God provides us with a word of hope. Like a protective parent to His children, God promises to come to us, embrace us, and bring us that comforting, tender love of a mother. We are not left to mourn or suffer alone.

the mother metaphor switches to God Himself: “As a mother comforts her child, so will I comfort you” (Isaiah 66:13)

they [God's people] will “nurse and be carried on her arm and dandled on her knees” (Isaiah 66:12).

As a mother breast milk never ceases while need for the babe to nurse; God's new people will “drink deeply and delight in her overflowing abundance” (Isaiah 66:11).

Come before our God [Holy Spirit] today with all of life's pain and brokenness and find comfort and joy in our tender God [Holy Spirit].