It Starts Small

I have a question for all of us today: What if your life – exactly as it is today – is God’s perfect environment for shaping you into the person he wants you to be?

This is not the philosophy of our world. It is not a conclusion that many of us would accept.

Most of us would like to swap lives with someone else.

Yet, this truth is taught throughout biblical salvation history. God’s perfect plan for shaping you is realized when you place God in control of your life.

Placing God in control of our lives goes beyond rearranging the stuff in our lives. I have always laughed at the idea of ‘spring cleaning.’ Every year, when winter is washing away and the weather gets warmer, we feel the urge to ‘spring clean our houses.’ We clean our houses. We wash windows and rearrange the furniture from one side of the room to the other. It appeared on the outside to be different but it really hadn’t changed what was already there. It just shuffled everything to a new place.

Placing God at the center of our lives goes beyond rearranging the furniture. It has to do with allowing God to determine our priorities. God’s priority is to restore His original purpose to our lives.

Our passage today, reveals the condition of Israel because she had refused to accept God’s purposes. Amazingly, their lives are in shambles because of God’s judgment for their wrong doing. The context of this passage is that Israel is brokenhearted, enslaved and grieving over the consequences of her sins. Israel is suffering because of God’s judgment and discipline. God disciplines Israel for her sins. In His mercy, He sends Isaiah on a mission with a message of good news. This message aims to restore them to His purposes for their lives.

Isaiah reveals the very heart of the message of God for every generation. He reveals the message of God as good news to the poor and downtrodden, to the brokenhearted and mournful. It is a message of freedom to those imprisoned by these difficulties. He reveals God’s desire to transform lives ruined by failure. He wants to turn lives into ones filled with beauty. He wants to replace the mourning with laughter. He wants to turn their cries of despair into a song of praise. He wants to display his splendor in their lives.

We must believe that God can give us what Isaiah speaks of in these verses. Isaiah speaks of “The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord.” The word “sovereign” means one that exercises supreme, permanent authority. Isaiah wanted the Israelites to understand that the Spirit of the Sovereign Lord was upon him. He proclaimed God’s plan for them during their oppression. Isaiah’s message was from the Sovereign Lord whose purposes could not be thwarted.

The world needs a clear picture of God’s sovereignty when we are hurting and oppressed. This is the time when we see that he is in control. The psalmist looks to God in difficult times.

¹ God is our refuge and strength,
a helper who is always found
in times of trouble.
² Therefore we will not be afraid,
though the earth trembles
and the mountains topple
into the depths of the seas,
³ though its water roars and foams
and the mountains quake with its turmoil.Selah

Psalm 46:1-3

Job in his troubles said, “I know that you [God] can do all things; no plan of yours can be thwarted” (Job 42:2). Paul in fear of his life told the Corinthians, “. . . God will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear . . . he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it” (1 Corinthians 10:13). It is comforting to know in troublesome times that God has a plan. He has supreme authority. This means his plans cannot be thwarted.

So Isaiah asks us today, “What if your life – exactly as it is today – is God’s perfect environment for shaping you into the person he wants you to be?”

Luke records that Jesus began his ministry quoting these exact verses we read from Isaiah.

¹⁶ He came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up. As usual, he entered the synagogue on the Sabbath day and stood up to read. ¹⁷ The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him, and unrolling the scroll, he found the place where it was written:

¹⁸ The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
because he has anointed me
to preach good news to the poor.
He has sent me
to proclaim release to the captives
and recovery of sight to the blind,
to set free the oppressed,
¹⁹ to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.

²⁰ He then rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. And the eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fixed on him. ²¹ He began by saying to them, “Today as you listen, this Scripture has been fulfilled.”

²² They were all speaking well of him and were amazed by the gracious words that came from his mouth; yet they said, “Isn’t this Joseph’s son?”

Luke 4:16-22

Jesus indicated these verses were being fulfilled before their very eyes. However, His message goes to the end of the ages. Jesus Christ fulfills these verses for every generation—He brings good news to every life. This is a message of freedom. It is a sight for sore eyes. It is designed to release us from the world’s oppression. He came to relieve us from the oppression we feel. We often think the only way out is to swap lives with someone else.

God’s message of freedom restores our sight—changes our thinking so we can remain free in Christ. If you went to the jail houses and prisons throughout the country and set everyone free, how many would return to jail by nightfall? How many would be back by the end of the week? Statistics tell us the vast majority would be back in prison in no time at all. Why? Their sight was not restored in their release. They would revert to the old way of living.

Isaiah’s message was good news because God broke into their world with a word of rebuke. He offered a word of correction. This was an invitation of mercy to salvage their lives. Sadly, they had been held captive by those who only offered religious rituals to practice. These captors had no concern for correcting the direction of their sinful lives.

We may think freedom from sin through forgiveness is the only important aspect of salvation. We preach forgiveness and the lost receive forgiveness. They are set free of their sins. However, we release them into the world without guidance. They do not learn how to live above the oppression of Satan. They end up living no better than they were before they were forgiven.

We cannot be set free without directing our steps in God’s ways. Nothing less than divine thinking—divine revelation can set us free. This is why the gospel is good news to those who wish to see life from God’s vantage point. God’s righteousness brings healing to a world hurting from Satan’s oppression.

The oppression of Satan drives us to despair. Despair is the tool of Satan to keep us oppressed. His onslaughts make us feel like hopeless cases. In our despair and depression we begin thinking God is too remote to be found. We may believe our lives are a mess. We might feel that not even God can pardon us or heal our hearts.

God wishes to turn these initial feelings of godly remorse into repentance so you can be healed. Satan wants to use them to keep you oppressed. God wants to restore and refresh broken hearts—He wants to make your life fruitful again. Satan wants you to listen to his lies.

God brings healing when we honor the purpose for which he created us. This is a message God’s people need today. God is calling us back to his righteousness to be healed. He wants us to exemplify a message of healing to a lost world. The world needs to see the fellowship of God’s people as a hospital for sinners.

But for you who fear my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings, and you will go out and playfully jump like calves from the stall.

Malachi 4:2

The message of salvation is a message of deliverance. Jesus spent his time with those the religious people believed to be dirty, filthy, stinking, hell bent sinners. You couldn’t keep these sinners away from Jesus. They saw the implications of what Jesus was doing. They naturally gravitated to Jesus because they needed deliverance.

Jesus descended from a holy, holy, holy heavenly throne to associate with someone as sinful as you and me. If we are afraid of people with seemingly insurmountable problems we are in the wrong business. Isaiah’s is a message to people with seemingly insurmountable problems. Yet, Isaiah’s message portrays Israel’s deliverance.

Isaiah message speaks of what God gives:

Heals the brokenhearted
Gives freedom to the captives
Release from the oppression of darkness
God’s vengeance on enemies
Their enemies will serve them
Comfort to those who mourn
Provide for those who grieve
Give them a crown of beauty for their ashes
Gladness for their mourning
Turn their cries of despair into songs of praise

Those to whom Isaiah was speaking needed to see that someone was in charge of their lives. It wasn’t those who were oppressing them. The world needs to see the same message of deliverance today.

We approach people with the gospel asking them “Would you go to hell if you died tonight?” This is the wrong question. A better question is this: “Are you honoring the purpose for which God created you?” Does your current way of living fulfill that purpose? This is the only means of deliverance.

God has a much simpler way. He wants to touch the world with his healing hand as he heals you. Monetarily it is a very cost effective, and it will also be effective in healing your hurts. Healing the world one life at a time is simple, but the world must see those seeking to bring deliverance as those who have been delivered.

The world needs to know that God wants to deliver it from oppression. Deliverance is more than fire protection against hell. Those lives salvaged throughout the Bible experienced the healing hand of God delivering them. Joseph experienced God’s healing and deliverance after thirteen years of misery.

⁵⁰ Two sons were born to Joseph before the years of famine arrived. Asenath daughter of Potiphera, priest at On, bore them to him. ⁵¹ Joseph named the firstborn Manasseh and said, “God has made me forget all my hardship and my whole family.” ⁵² And the second son he named Ephraim and said, “God has made me fruitful in the land of my affliction.”

Genesis 41:50-52

After years of abuse Joseph calls his slavery in Egypt “ the fruitful land of my suffering.” God’s blessings made him forget all his oppression. The message of the gospel is that this world of oppression can become the fruitful land of our affliction. God always makes up for everything you had coming to you in this life. We are not talking about health, wealth and prosperity. He did it for Joseph; he will do it for you.

More importantly than Joseph being made fruitful in his land of affliction was that Egypt realized the hand of God was upon Joseph’s life.

“I am not able to,” Joseph answered Pharaoh. “It is God who will give Pharaoh a favorable answer.

Genesis 41:16

³⁸ and he said to them, “Can we find anyone like this, a man who has God’s spirit in him?” ³⁹ So Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Since God has made all this known to you, there is no one as discerning and wise as you are. ⁴⁰ You will be over my house, and all my people will obey your commands. Only I, as king, will be greater than you.”

Genesis 41:38-40

It may seem as though God is asleep in the difficult years. However, during those years God wishes to build your integrity and character. He does this through your perseverance. When this is completed you will be rewarded. Your life may be laid bare. Healing will come in a season when you discover and experience God’s purpose for your life. Joel proclaims such a day for Israel shortly after Isaiah’s prophecy. It was after God sent the locust to destroy their crops to bring them to repentance. God created a perfect environment for their lives so that he could accomplish his purpose in their lives.

²⁴ The threshing floors will be full of grain,
and the vats will overflow
with new wine and fresh oil.

²⁵ I will repay you for the years
that the swarming locust ate,
the young locust, the destroying locust,
and the devouring locust—
my great army that I sent against you.

Joel 2:24-25

Salvation is about God’s desire to restore to you what Satan has taken through his oppression of our world. He desires to deliver you through the message of Jesus Christ. It is a message of mercy and grace and it is definitely good news.

Isaiah simply revealed God’s dream for Israel, His real purpose for Israel. God has always had this same vision for every life. Satan has robbed us of it and salvation is about God restoring us to our original condition.

God has a much simpler way. He wants to touch the world with His healing hand as He heals you. Monetarily it is a very cost effective, and it will also be effective in healing your hurts. Healing the world one life at a time is simple. The world must see those seeking to bring deliverance as those who have been delivered.

Remember ” . . . your life – exactly as it is today – is God’s perfect environment for shaping you into the person he wants you to be?”

© Kimberlee Smith 2025 http://www.itstartssmall.com All rights reserved.