Just Like New

Read Isaiah 44:21-23

Context: After 39 chapters of telling about God's coming judgment for the Israelites, Isaiah spends chapters 40-66 giving comfort and telling of the deliverance that will come after the judgment. Today's text is part of a section reminding Israel that there is only one God.

Text:
21 "Remember these things, O Jacob,
for you are my servant, O Israel.
I have made you, you are my servant;
O Israel, I will not forget you.
22 I have swept away your offenses like a cloud,
your sins like the morning mist.
Return to me,
for I have redeemed you."

23 Sing for joy, O heavens, for the LORD has done this;
shout aloud, O earth beneath.
Burst into song, you mountains,
you forests and all your trees,
for the LORD has redeemed Jacob,
he displays his glory in Israel. (NIV)

taken from www.biblegateway.com

We have been refinishing our basement and we've decided to decorate in a '50s diner style. We installed black and white checkerboard tile and we've been working our way up to the ceiling.

There have been times when there was so much drywall dust on the floor that you couldn't tell there was any black in the tile at all! Even after sweeping or hitting it quickly with a mop there were streaky white remnants of the dust. But once we used a floor cleaner and the appropriate tools the hidden floor looked just like new -- you couldn't even remember what it looked like when it was dirty.

Based on this passage, it's easy to imagine that our true colors are hidden by the dust of sin. But God comes along with a giant vacuum cleaner and sweeps it all away. He uses his infinite power and the right tool, Jesus, to reveal the real you hiding underneath. He doesn't keep the bag of dust on a shelf somewhere with your name on it so he can remember all that dirt. He throws the it into trash and it's gone from his sight forever.

Of course our floor will get dirty again, but I know that we can clean up any dirty or sticky mess that covers it.

God will do the same for you...all you have to do is ask!