BEING UPHELD BY GOD

ĐƯỢC ĐỨC CHÚA TRỜI BỒNG ẲM

Kinh thánh: Ê-sai 46: 3-4

Câu gốc: Ê-SAI 46: 4 phần A – Cho đến chừng các ngươi già cả, đầu râu tóc bạc, ta cũng sẽ bồng-ẵm các ngươi.

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BEING UPHELD BY GOD

Bible” Isaiah 46: 3-4

Main verse: ISAIAH 46: 4 part A – Even to your old age, I am He, and even to gray hairs I will carry you!

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– We all know that God is Love and His love for mankind is incomparable. If anything in this world could be used to understand God’s love, it is the parent’s love for their children.

– That’s why the Bible has described God’s love in the image of a parent holding their child. Moses had used such images when he mentioned God’s love to the Israelites.

DEUTERONOMY 1: 31 – In the wilderness where you saw how the Lord your God carried you, as a man carries his son, in all the way that you went until you came to this place

PHỤC TRUYỀN 1: 31 – Trọn dọc đường ngươi đi, cho đến khi tới chốn nầy, Giê-hô-va Đức Chúa Trời ngươi đã bồng ngươi như một người bồng con trai mình.

– Parents hold their children only when they are small, but God carries His children for a lifetime.

ISAIAH 46: 3-4 – Listen to Me, O house of Jacob, and all the remnant of the house of Israel, who have been upheld by Me from birth, who have been carried from the womb: Even to your old age, I am He, and even to gray hairs I will carry you! I have made, and I will bear; Even I will carry, and will deliver you.

Ê-SAI 46: 3-4 – Hỡi nhà Gia-cốp, và hết thảy các ngươi là dân sót của nhà Y-sơ-ra-ên, hãy nghe ta, ta đã gánh vác các ngươi từ lúc mới sanh, bồng-ẵm các ngươi từ trong lòng mẹ. Cho đến chừng các ngươi già cả, đầu râu tóc bạc, ta cũng sẽ bồng-ẵm các ngươi. Ta đã làm ra, thì sẽ còn gánh vác các ngươi nữa. Ta sẽ bồng ẵm và giải cứu các ngươi.

– There are some scholars who argued that this image could only be applied to the Israelites but not to all Christians. That is because the Lord had called out to the house of Jacob when He said this. However, they forgot that we Christians have already been called the spiritual Israelites by the Bible:

ROMANS 10: 12 – For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon Him.

RÔ-MA 10: 12 – Trong người Giu-đa và người Gờ-réc không có sự phân biệt gì hết, vì họ có chung một Chúa, giàu ơn đối với mọi kẻ kêu xin Ngài.

EPHESIANS 2: 19 – Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God.

Ê-PHÊ-SÔ 2: 19 – Dường ấy anh em chẳng phải là người ngoại, cũng chẳng phải là kẻ ở trọ nữa, nhưng là người đồng quốc với các thánh đồ, và là người nhà của Đức Chúa Trời.

– Therefore, we can consider the image of a parent holding their child to understand God’s love for us and how we can behave ourselves.

– When a mother carries her child, she wants to protect the child from any harm. There are many instances in real life that a mother used her body to shield the child from danger.

– God has been acting like that many times to protect His children from harm, like the way He did to the Israelites:

ISAIAH 63: 9 – In all their affliction He was afflicted, and the Angel of His Presence saved them; In His love and in His pity He redeemed them; And He bore them and carried them all the days of old.

Ê-SAI 63: 9 – Hễ khi dân Ngài bị khốn khổ, chính Ngài cũng khốn khổ, và thiên sứ trước mặt Ngài đã cứu họ rồi. Chính Ngài đã lấy lòng yêu đương thương xót mà chuộc họ. Ngài đã ẵm bồng, và mang họ trong các ngày thuở xưa.

– Sometimes, we feel that God has upheld us when we faced obstacles and danger. That’s why we should thank Him and praise Him always in the church and the outside world.

– Even so, there are some cases in which a baby, who was upheld by their mother, wanted to free themselves to reach for a toy on the floor. It’s dangerous because they could hit their head on a hard surface, or injure themselves.

– Those cases can be used to illustrate Christians who wanted to leave the Lord for unhealthy pleasures of the world. Sooner or later, they will get hurt like a baby who hit his head because of a toy on the floor. With that in mind, every Christian should be gratefull to the Lord for being upheld in His hands and try their best to ignore or win over temptations.

– When a mother carries her child, she makes the child feel secure and also warm from her body. On the other hand, we will certainly be at peace when we are in His hands, and the warmth of His presence will lift us up from our sorrows and loneliness.

– Children love to be held in their mother’s hands, but some Christians want to be out of the Lord’s hands in order to live like unbelievers.

– When we visited orphanages during our trip to Vietnam, all of the orphans wanted to be held. They lacked the love from their parents, so they tried to find it in strangers like us instead. In the spiritual world, many Christians wanted to leave God’s embrace, thinking that it was holding them back from satisfying their worldly desires.

– When holding her child, the mother wants to help him move around quicker. An infant child cannot walk as quickly like an adult, because they could fall and get hurt, so being upheld in her hands benefits the child.

– When a Christian is upheld by God, they can achieve their desires quicker if they are not offensive to the standards of the Bible.

PSALM 23: 1 – The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.

THI THIÊN 23: 1 – Đức Giê-hô-va là Đấng chăn giữ tôi: tôi sẽ chẳng thiếu thốn gì.

– But some Christians do not understand this. They thought they were held back by the Lord and missed their chance to experience the world’s enjoyment.

– We should trust the love of God and appreciate Him upholding us in His hands because it benefit us greatly, both physically and spiritually. We should be glad that the Lord promised He will carry us to the end of this life.

– If we want to be upheld by the Lord, we should let His Word guide us and instruct us to live in this life.

1JOHN 2: 5 – Whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God [a] is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him.

1GIĂNG 2: 5 – Ai giữ lời phán Ngài, thì lòng kính mến Đức Chúa Trời thật là trọn vẹn trong người ấy. Bởi đó, chúng ta biết mình ở trong Ngài.

– May God bless us all on Mother’s day. While we appreciate the love of our mothers for us, we should also remember God’s love too, because He is our spiritual Father and Mother at the same time.

– May God help us to live worthy enough to be upheld by Him to the end of our lives on earth. Amen.