Covenant Maker & Covenant Promise
Covenant Maker & Covenant Promise
In John 6 v 1 – 14 we have the record of Jesus feeding the 5000 men plus the women and children, with five loaves of bread and two fishes. Jesus told His disciples to waste nothing. They collected twelve baskets full of broken pieces.
Bread speaks of a part of God’s covenant. God is the covenant maker. God keeps his covenants. He is not a covenant breaker.
It does not matter how many broken pieces there has been or there currently exists in your life. It does not matter how many times your spirit has been broken, or your plans have not gone as you imagined they would – our Saviour Jesus gathers all that brokenness to Himself. He is the restorer of our souls. He is the healer of our pains and our hurts. He is the song in our heart as He replaces our hopelessness with His restoration and peace.
In the Book of Isaiah, God encouraged the people through the prophet Isaiah that there would be a fulfilment of promise on a scale of such a magnitude it would impact everyone in every generation. It would require a response from us all. That portion of Scripture says:
“The Spirit of the Lord is on Me because the Lord has anointed Me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the broken hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and freedom to the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour, and the day of our God’s vengeance, to comfort all who mourn, to console the mourners in Zion, to give them a crown of beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, and a garment of praise for a spirit of despair. So, they will be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified. Isaiah 61 v 1 – 3
This Scripture speaks of Jesus. What is your response? Do you trust Him enough to make Him the Lord of your Life?
When Jesus came to Nazareth and unrolled the scroll and read these words in the presence of the people He was setting out His mandate – His official commissioning from our Father God. He was explaining to everyone who heard, the purpose of His visitation. It was love for the lost and broken that brought Him down into the realm of earth and time. Once He made His mission clear Luke 4 v 20 -21 says:
“Then He rolled up the scroll, returned it to the attendant, and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fixed on Him, and He began by saying “Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”
God is not a covenant breaker. He is a God of promise.
Today is the day of salvation.
Today is the day when in the midst of being poor-spiritually, physically, financially, or in our relationships, in our possessions or lack of them – Jesus brings us the Good News of the comfort that His arms are wrapped around us.
Today is the day when consumed by brokenness, when feeling captivated by the sneers of life, Jesus brings freedom for our souls when we put our trust in Him. He is our advocate and our peace.
Today is the day when facing turmoil and uncertainty, we can and do find favour with God as He helps us through by the empowerment of His Holy Spirit, to stand our ground as we allow Him to contend with those who contend with us.
Today is the day when experiencing despair, our Father God can take the spirit of fear that is paralysing so many minds around the world and exchange it for His sound mind of peace.
He will replace the heavy weight of the world’s burdens with the lightness of a crown of beauty. He promises to heal our hearts with the oil of joy. I am sure that the man who was robbed in the parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10 v 25 – 27), was more than glad that the Samaritan stopped, had pity on him, helped him and cared enough to pour oil on his wounds. He did not leave the man ragged or destitute and bleeding. God does not leave us that way either. He promises that He will never leave us or forsake us. Instead He wants to take our garments of mourning and cover us with a garment of praise.
It can be hard to praise God in hard times, but God is not asking us to do that in our own strength. He will clothe us with the ability to do that. We serve a supernatural Heavenly Father whose clothes are not man made. They do not become moth-eaten or old. His garments transform us to oaks of His righteousness. And it is He who does the planting so we can humbly and joyfully magnify His Name.
An oak tree symbolises strength, morale, resistance, and knowledge. They live a long time, some over one thousand years. During their lifetime they go through many changes in their life cycle. They play a prominent role in maintaining an effective ecosystem which benefits other plant life, insects, animals, and birds. Stay close the Jesus in this season so you can be strengthened, so your morale will remain resilient as you continue to grow in your knowledge and relationship with Him, through the ‘ups’ and ‘downs’ of the cycle of life.
Our Father God promises to “transform our Valley of Trouble into a Gateway of Hope.” Isaiah 65 v 10
Choose to believe Him today.
God is not a covenant breaker but a God of promise.
Amen xxx