Is this the most beautiful chapter in the Bible?

Did you realize how many incredible verses are in this one chapter?

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As I was praying this morning, I remembered a verse. I’ve heard it hundreds of times, but it never struck me quite like it did this morning. And when I looked up the entire chapter, I was stunned.

I want to share that with you today.

I was praying this morning that God would sustain me and my family. I finished a book yesterday called “The Power of Christian Contentment.” In general, the book is about finding joy amidst anything and everything. It’s about practicing what it looks like to truly believe that God is working all things for our good and his glory. It’s about recognizing how God sustains us and how we are called to honor that.

So this morning, I wanted to put that into practice. “May we find your goodness in everything,” I prayed.

I got this little nugget in response: “Jon, I am sustaining you. I am taking care of you. Streams in the desert.”

“Streams in the desert.” I knew that came from the Bible, but I couldn’t tell you where exactly. I’m great at remembering scripture, but not great at memorizing it, if that makes sense. Good thing we have a biblical encyclopedia in our pockets, which is why I pulled out my phone and looked it up.

I quickly found the reference: it comes from Isaiah 43. Eager to understand the full context, I read the entire chapter. Wow. Just wow. It’s powerful. I’ve read it before, but I had no idea just how many great nuggets are embedded in this chapter. I’ll be honest, it could fill up A LOT of Hobby Lobby signs. In fact, you’ve probably seen a lot of these verses on said signs, but they’re worth reading again. So here are verses 1-21, which is the meat of the entire thing:

¹ But now thus says the Lord,
he who created you, O Jacob,
    he who formed you, O Israel:
“Fear not, for I have redeemed you;
    I have called you by name, you are mine.
² When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;
    and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you;
when you walk through fire you shall not be burned,
    and the flame shall not consume you.
³ For I am the Lord your God,
    the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.
I give Egypt as your ransom,
    Cush and Seba in exchange for you.
⁴ Because you are precious in my eyes,
    and honored, and I love you,
I give men in return for you,
    peoples in exchange for your life.
⁵ Fear not, for I am with you;
    I will bring your offspring from the east,
    and from the west I will gather you.
⁶ I will say to the north, Give up,
    and to the south, Do not withhold;
bring my sons from afar
    and my daughters from the end of the earth,
⁷ everyone who is called by my name,
    whom I created for my glory,
    whom I formed and made.”

⁸ Bring out the people who are blind, yet have eyes,
    who are deaf, yet have ears!
⁹ All the nations gather together,
    and the peoples assemble.
Who among them can declare this,
    and show us the former things?
Let them bring their witnesses to prove them right,
    and let them hear and say, It is true.
¹⁰ “You are my witnesses,” declares the Lord,
    “and my servant whom I have chosen,
that you may know and believe me
    and understand that I am he.
Before me no god was formed,
    nor shall there be any after me.
¹¹ I, I am the Lord,
    and besides me there is no savior.
¹² I declared and saved and proclaimed,
    when there was no strange god among you;
    and you are my witnesses,” declares the Lord, “and I am God.
¹³ Also henceforth I am he;
    there is none who can deliver from my hand;
    I work, and who can turn it back?”

¹⁴ Thus says the Lord,
    your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel:
“For your sake I send to Babylon
    and bring them all down as fugitives,
    even the Chaldeans, in the ships in which they rejoice.
¹⁵ I am the Lord, your Holy One,
    the Creator of Israel, your King.”

¹⁶ Thus says the Lord,
    who makes a way in the sea,
    a path in the mighty waters,
¹⁷ who brings forth chariot and horse,
    army and warrior;
they lie down, they cannot rise,
    they are extinguished, quenched like a wick:
¹⁸ “Remember not the former things,
    nor consider the things of old.
¹⁹ Behold, I am doing a new thing;
    now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?
I will make a way in the wilderness
    and rivers in the desert.
²⁰ The wild beasts will honor me,
    the jackals and the ostriches,
for I give water in the wilderness,
    rivers in the desert,
to give drink to my chosen people,
²¹     the people whom I formed for myself
that they might declare my praise.

Is it just me, or is that beautiful?

I don’t think there is much I can say to highlight all of that or make it better. But I will say this: Those might just be the most beautiful verses in the Bible. I’m serious. I think there are some in Job that are up for the same award, but it’s a toss up.

Read it again if you don’t believe me.

Let me say this about Old Testament promises: we have to be wise about how we interpret and claim them for ourselves. But that said, I think I’ve generally erred on the side of maybe being too careful. And that has meant I have neglected to quench my thirst by drinking from the deep well the ancient books like Isaiah has for me.¹

As John Piper says when asked about which Old Testament promises are for us, “even though it’s an oversimplification, it’s true, in a wonderful way, that all of the Old Testament is for those who are in Christ Jesus. He came to confirm and fulfill all of it for his people.”

So today — even all this week — I want to encourage you to meditate on those verses in Isaiah 43. He has provided streams in the desert. He has called you by name. He is with you.

And he is doing a new thing.

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(Pic: I took this photo in Israel on the Sea of Galilee)

1. I have seen how scriptures were twisted for a “name it and claim it” theology that denigrated God’s sovereignty, and that left a bad taste in my mouth.