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From Isaiah Chapter 26 verses 15, 16 and 12 read as follows: 15 You have enlarged the nation, LORD; you have enlarged the nation. You have gained glory for yourself; you have extended all the borders of the land. 16 LORD, they came to you in their distress; when you disciplined them, they could barely whisper a prayer. [b] 12 LORD, you establish peace for us; all that we have accomplished you have done for us. These verses from the 26th Chapter of Isaiah speak of large blessings, blessings that are uncontainable within the previous borders or boundaries that are already considered established. In this case it was land but it can be any previously established constraints real or imagined that are operative. Things seem finite, limited and if there can be a change or turnaround, it would have to be within the borders of what is already seen and known. With such elements of the unknown, and the mention of prayer, there is the need to ask seek and being willing to dwell with understanding within a world of mystery that goes beyond borders and what already seems to be the order of the day. Ask the Lord to bring an deeper understanding of the mysteries present and coming to us. What these verses and the voice attached to them point out is that the Lord goes beyond what you might have previously known even about yourself, your conceivable paths and what is even possible. Also, it is almost comical from one point of view but these verses point to a degree to a rescue or just barely getting back. However, what a relief it is to get back and have those troubles fad away. You could picture a scene sometimes depicted in a movie, someone is in great distress and friends come by in a boat, plane or car and say hop in, not even knowing the degree of the trouble that this person was in. Maybe this person is in swirling currents but it seemed like they were only having a good time surfing. Maybe this person was on an exotic island but was being chased by any type of nemesis The picture quickly chances and is changed to where things are now okay, right from the dire situation that seemed for the moment to have no escape route. The people who came by don't even know that they are actually rescuing the person from these troubles. But you know if you are the one being rescued just how much trouble was right there in front of you and God knows even if the one's who came by maybe inadvertently didn't know how much trouble you were in. As the rescued are taken away from the dire situation and the after affect of the distress recedes, one can go to verse 12 where one can say all that has happened is done from the hand of the Lord, the one who rescues. All that has been accomplished from here wouldn’t have happened had the Lord not intervened and rescued these people but he not only rescued them he brought them back to the place of accomplishments of meaning to their own heart’s desires. The Prodigal Son barely got back from the deep and foreboding surroundings of troubles that he was in, but the story shows just how boundless the blessings and reception for him was once he got back. The Prodigal Son was wayward for sure, but the situations that had surrounded him in his waywardness were becoming like borders, indeed partly of his own creation. Yet beyond the borders of his self inflicted troubles, of his waywardness and where these troubles took him, were unfathomable blessings that he probably could barely even contemplate from where he was. But he did know enough and he was able to come to his senses and realize that there could be a way back, a way back beyond the borders of these difficulties that were now as he realized swallowing him up. And even barely whispering a prayer and even barely getting back, doesn't mean that the blessings that can be found beyond the borders of these difficulties cannot be what was formerly unimaginable from where he was. The father in this example, took him all the way back, all the way home, to where all the blessings, not some of the blessings, were there for him as part of the welcoming home to glory. For him, these were blessing beyond borders. These people in the prophetic book of Isaiah were in so much trouble they could barely whisper a prayer, but they got all the way back and all the way into the enlargement of the Lord’s gigantic and astounding blessings that just continued to unfold further.
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