Wake Up! Wake Up!

Every time I go to bed at night, I think, "I love my bed!" I know it's kind of a strange thought. It might even be a bit odd to say that I love sleeping. I do not have a difficult time sleeping, and for the most part, I feel rested when I wake up in the morning. When I wake up in the morning, there is so much optimism for the new day. Ok, sometimes I do wakeup in the middle of the night. At 63 years old, sometimes the bathroom calls me, and sometimes it might take a little effort to get back to sleep. There is very little optimism at 3am in the morning. LOL! 

I am thankful for a good night's rest. I know so many people who just can't get to sleep and they struggle getting enough rest. I am not one of them. When I wake up in the morning, I am most often excited about what the day will bring. Do you wake up with an optimistic view, or do you wake up dreading what is ahead of you?

Every morning is a new opportunity for change in your life, a new beginning, a reason for hope!

As I read Isaiah 51 and 52 this morning, the phrase "Wake up! Wake up!" was used three different times in the two chapters. In the NLT, the term "Wake up" is used 73 times in 26 verses! This two-word phrase is so important because throughout the Bible when this phrase is used, you recognize a call for a change! Sometimes it is a plea for the Lord to change our circumstances. Sometimes it is a call from the Lord for US to change. In Isaiah 51:9-10, the call is to the Lord:

"Wake up, wake up, O Lord! Clothe yourself with strength! Flex your mighty right arm! Rouse yourself as in the days of old when you slew Egypt, the dragon of the Nile. Are you  not the same today, the one who dried up the sea, making a path of escape through the depths so that your people could cross over?" (Isaiah 51:9.10)

Isaiah was calling upon the Lord to save Israel from exile, from oppression, from the sin that brought it to ruin. Then, a few verses later, the call is for Israel to wake up!

"Wake up, wake up, O Jerusalem! You have drunk the cup of the Lord's fury. You have drunk the cup of terror, tipping out its last drops.... But now listen to this, you afflicted ones who sit in a drunken stupor, though not from drinking wine. This is what the Sovereign Lord says: 'See, I have taken the terrible cup from your hands. You will drink no more of my fury. Instead, I will hand the cup to your tormentors, those who said, 'We will trample you into the dust and walk on your backs.''" (Isaiah 51:17,21-23)

There is great change about to come upon Israel. God is about to deal with their oppressors; he will turn the tide on their slave masters! As we read in the beginning of chapter 52, Isaiah is calling on Israel to respond to the Lord's blessing and the removal of their plight:

"Wake up! Wake up! O Zion! Clothe yourself with strength. Put on your beautiful clothes, O holy city of Jerusalem, for unclean and godless people will enter your gates no longer. Rise from the dust, O Jerusalem. Sit in a place of honor. Remove the chains of slavery from your neck, O captive daughter of Zion." (Isaiah 52:1,2)

God's message for you today is to "Wake up! Wake up!" things are about to change. If you turn to the Lord, trust in Him, and count on his power and his might, things will change! God is about to move! Only through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ can I look upon every day with joy and wonderful anticipation. I know that regardless of the medical issues I might face, regardless of the broken relationships, the financial hardships, or the multitude of challenges that lie ahead of me, God is with me. My hope is with the Lord. Every day is a new day filled with hope and optimism because the Lord is in control!

"It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: Great is thy faithfulness. The Lord is my portion, saith my soul; Therefore will I hope in him."(Lamentations 3:22-24, KJV)