Yesterday’s title was Grace Favors and may have had an expectation of at least one grace favor explained. Rather than that I quoted all of Isaiah 61 without comment. I left you alone with the Word.

Did the Word speak to you? Did you find relevant meaning in any portion of those verses? Could you see your gracious God in relationship to your personal experience? Was there any relevant truth in the scripture on a personal level?

Or were you disappointed in my leaving you alone with the Word? I hope not. You should never feel disappointed, lonely, abandoned, or confused in God’s Word. That is not why God gave us His Word. God gives His Word to keep His Word. God is not a liar.

This devotional is being written to remind you that expectations should be based on the promises of God. Those promises are the only hope we have in this life. If you have been reading my devotionals for any length of time you know my style, you know my calling, you might even recall some of my personal experiences. You still do not know me. There is more to who I am than is in my writings.

God is more, so much more than what you expect. These gracious favors that I want to explain to you can only be seen in those parts in which we have a cooperative role. All you have to do is read Isaiah 61 again to realize that God does gracious favors for us that we may never be aware of in this lifetime.

You have not had all your life experiences yet. You will see more grace. Do not expect it. Enjoy God’s grace for what it is and not for what you want it to be.

Isaiah 61

¹ The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me; because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound;

² To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn;

³ To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he might be glorified.

⁴ And they shall build the old wastes, they shall raise up the former desolations, and they shall repair the waste cities, the desolations of many generations.

⁵ And strangers shall stand and feed your flocks, and the sons of the alien shall be your plowmen and your vinedressers.

⁶ But ye shall be named the Priests of the Lord: men shall call you the Ministers of our God: ye shall eat the riches of the Gentiles, and in their glory shall ye boast yourselves.

⁷ For your shame ye shall have double; and for confusion they shall rejoice in their portion: therefore in their land they shall possess the double: everlasting joy shall be unto them.

⁸ For I the Lord love judgment, I hate robbery for burnt offering; and I will direct their work in truth, and I will make an everlasting covenant with them.

⁹ And their seed shall be known among the Gentiles, and their offspring among the people: all that see them shall acknowledge them, that they are the seed which the Lord hath blessed.

¹⁰ I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels.

¹¹ For as the earth bringeth forth her bud, and as the garden causeth the things that are sown in it to spring forth; so the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all the nations.