Isaiah 40:10 “See, the Sovereign LORD comes with power,
and his arm rules for him. See, his
reward is with him and his recompense accompanies him.” NIV84
Definition
of “Recompense” from Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary & Dictionary.com: Reward; repayment; requital as favors and
gifts; restitution; to give something by
way of compensation; to return in kind; an equivalent or a return of something
done, suffered or given; to pay for.
I got to
thinking about this definition and this verse.
Research took me to Jeremiah 51:56.
In the NIV84 version, this verse uses the word “retribution.” The same Hebrew word translates recompense or
retribution. Here’s what strikes
me: I understand retribution all day
long. I understand God paying me back
for exactly what I deserve. But this is
not what these verses mean. God pays us
back for what we don’t deserve. He’s
giving compensation, to the good, for all the bad I’ve done. He’s going to exact retribution against my
(former) captor, not against me. This is
grace, my loves. God is absolutely
amazing. His grace is absolutely amazing. My words won’t do justice to the elation I
feel. I won’t lie. I do not understand it at all. Why does a holy God even want anything to do
with a sinner like me? Isaiah 40:3 says,
“Who has understood the mind of the LORD, or instructed him as his counselor?” How can I even begin to understand the mind
of the Lord? His ways are not my ways,
not His thought my thoughts (Isaiah 55:9).
This holy God of mine “gives life to the dead and calls things that are
not as though they were” (Romans 4:17b).
I don’t deserve an ounce of His grace, nor even one small reward. Yet, God says I do. God calls me His own daughter. He choose me before the earth was founded
(Ephesians 1:4). It stuns me that God
loves me, that he thinks of me, that He takes great delight in me (Psalm 139:17
& Zephaniah 3:17). It stuns me that
He sent His own Son to die for me, to take on my sin and shame. It stuns me that Jesus would bear my
punishment. It stuns me that Jesus found me worth dying for. Then, God raised His Son back to life to give
me a full life. The icing, He also sent
His Spirit to live in me, to teach me & guide me. One of my biggest prayers is that I do not
take my salvation for granted or forget what the LORD, my covenant God, has
done for me. I certainly don’t deserve
to be rewarded or paid back for anything.
God paid my debt. He paid the
ransom and set me free. If that’s not
more than enough already, He rewards me too!!??
Wow!!! I can never pay Him
back. I also didn’t do anything to earn this. God’s grace is free. It’s a gift, so precious and pure. Oh, how I love my Daddy God!!! “’Because he loves me,’ says the LORD, ‘I
will rescue him; I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name. He will call upon me, and I will answer him;
I will be with him in trouble, I will deliver him and honor him. With long life I will satisfy him and show
him my salvation.’” Psalm 91:14-15
