January 2 | Bible in a Year: Genesis 4-6; Matthew 2

God’s Promise Beyond the Ruins

The heavens will vanish like smoke . . . . But my salvation will last forever. Isaiah 51:6

As a hurricane raged through the Gulf of Mexico towards the US coastline, the warnings were dire. One official, noting the 150-mile-per-hour winds, issued this jolting message: “Please evacuate. But if you choose to stay and we can’t get to you, write your name, address and next of kin and put it in a sealed bag in your pocket. Praying that it does not come to this.” Rescue crews knew that once the hurricane hit land, they could only watch the storm’s destructive path—helpless in its wake.

Whenever God’s people in the Old Testament faced natural or spiritual calamity, His words were far more certain and hopeful, promising His presence despite destruction. He said that He would “look with compassion on all her ruins; [and would] make her wastelands . . . like the garden of the Lord” (Isaiah 51:3). And more, God always assured His people of the rescue and healing that would certainly follow if they would only trust Him. Even though “the heavens [would] vanish like smoke,” God said, His “salvation [would] last forever” (v. 6). Whatever the damage, His ultimate goodness towards them wouldn’t be thwarted, ever.

God doesn’t safeguard us from hardship, but He does promise that His restorative healing extends far beyond the ruin.

By Winn Collier

REFLECT & PRAY

Where are you facing calamity and ruin? How do you hear God’s promise to be with you, to heal and rebuild after the ruins?

Dear God, the ruins in my life are so devastating. I sometimes struggle to trust that You have a promise big enough for this. But I choose to believe.

SCRIPTURE INSIGHT

What does Isaiah 51:1 mean? “Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness and who seek the Lord: Look to the rock from which you were cut.” God is challenging His exiled people to “look to Abraham, your father, and to Sarah, who gave you birth” (v. 2). The people were trying to gain righteousness by keeping the law. What they needed was the faith of their spiritual father Abraham. The apostle Paul wrote, “It was not through the law that Abraham and his offspring received the promise that he would be heir of the world, but through the righteousness that comes by faith” ( Romans 4:13).

Tim Gustafson

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