Come Follow Me-Isaiah 40-49-Sept. 28-Oct. 4, 2024

<p>Fear not! I am with thee, oh, be not dismayed! ForI am thy God and will still give thee aid. I’ll strengthen thee, help thee and cause thee to stand. Upheld by my righteous omnipotent hand! </p><p>These are the words to one of my favorite hymns.  And they are also the words of Isaiah! In Isaiah 41:10 we read—</p><p>And if you are thinking that these words sound alittle softer than the previous two weeks of Isaiah-well you are right!  There is definitely a tone and theme shift inthese coming chapters.  Scholars think these chapters were written after the Assyrian army destroyed all the smallercities of Judah, but then, as they tried to overtake Jerusalem, all 185,000 of the Assyrian soldiers were killed in the night. Jerusalem was miraculously saved because Israel had heeded the words of Isaiah.  They had repented and turned tothe Lord, and the Lord kept His covenant with Israel-to fight their battles for them! He delivered them just like He had when they fled Egypt!  </p><p>This theme of Jehovah being one who has the powerto deliver is repeatedly compared to the world that has no such power, over the course of these chapters.  So, for us tomake these chapters about your story, I want you to push pause for a second and make a list of two or three trials in your life that you would like to experience deliverance from.  </p><p>Another repeated theme we are going to see thisweek is the Lord telling Israel, and therefore all of us, “fear not!”  At least 8 times throughout these chapters weread phrases like, “be not afraid”, “fear thou not”, and “fear not”.  So, again, for us to really connect thesechapters to our lives, I want you to push pause and write down two or three things in your life that are causing you to experience fear.</p><p>One other theme we are going to focus on todayfrom these chapters in Isaiah, is the same theme that we have been learning about all year in our study of the Old Testament.  And that is the theme of the power of thecovenant that the Lord and Israel have made with each other.  It is because of this covenant relationshipthat the Lord can counsel Israel to “fear not.” It is because of the power of the covenant that Israel can trust that when the Lord says things like, (read Isaiah 49:8-10) they can have confidence in the Lord’s promises. What blessings can we confidently expect from keeping covenants in our day?  As I read this quote from Elder Soares who spoke of Covenant Confidence in April of 2024, I want youto listen to the