Shalomi Fernando
10 Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver;
I have tested you in the furnace of affliction.
11 For My own sake, for My own sake, I will do it;
For how should My name be profaned?
And I will not give My glory to another.
12 “Listen to Me, O Jacob,
And Israel, My called:
I am He, I am the First,
I am also the Last.
Isaiah 48:11-12
These words were spoken in the backdrop of a generation of believers, followers of God, who had fallen short and were facing difficult times. Isaiah 48 may sound harsh, yet the grace and love of God, as He calls out to His people, desiring for their redemption and prosperous restoration, is profound to me.
Rather than analysing the entirety of chapter 48, I present the encouragement which this portion of Scripture has given me in a time of utter hopelessness, anxious loneliness, and a series of “why,” “how” and “when” prayers: “MY GLORY I WILL NOT GIVE TO ANOTHER.”
Colossians 1:15-17 [AMPC] reads as follows: “15 [Now] He is the exact likeness of the unseen God [the visible representation of the invisible]; He is the Firstborn of all creation.
16 For it was in Him that all things were created, in heaven and on earth, things seen and things unseen, whether thrones, dominions, rulers, or authorities; all things were created and exist through Him [by His service, intervention] and in and for Him.
17 And He Himself existed before all things, and in Him all things consist [cohere, are held together].”
All things bearing existence do so for the glory of God. Everything that exists was created and exists through Jesus, and IN AND FOR HIM.