OUR TRAINER TEACHES US HOW TO RISE ABOVE

by Tammy Phillips
June 28, 2020

 Thus, says the LORD, your Redeemer, The Holy One of Israel: “I [am] the LORD your God, Who teaches you to profit, Who leads you by the way you should go. – Isaiah 48:17 NKJV

My husband asked me what was wrong.  “Nothing,” was my answer.  He thought I looked pensive.   I was tired.  I shared with him that I did not want to lie down nor sit up.  I did not want to cook nor clean.  I did not want to think nor sink.    I did not want to eat, but I was hungry.   I wanted to eat everything bad and nothing at all.   I did not want watch television, nor be quiet.  I did not want to do anything, except sit on the beach.  I did not want to read, and I always want to read.  I was agitated.

I read a few devotions and then chose to comb through God’s word, even though I did not feel like it.   I found it…my prescription for the day.  (I hope yours, too.)   Agitation darted.   A small smile crossed my face, as I dug into His word.   The Holy Spirit always has something to say and a word to enCOURAGE.  I found encouragement in Isaiah 48:17. The Holy Spirit reminded me who God is:

Our Redeemer
He is our next of kin.  In the South we say our “kinfolk.”  He is our Avenger, Deliver, He purchased us. He paid our ransom. He bought us back with the precious blood of Jesus.

The Holy One
He is the ONLY ONE.  There is only One God.

The Lord our God
 He was, He is, and He will always be, the One True God.

It is the Lord who teaches us how to profit.  The Hebrew word for teach is lamad.  It means to chastise, to goad, to teach by striking with a rod of correction, to be trained and to exercise.  The Lord, Our Trainer, coaches us how to profit.  I always thought this meant excel and benefit, and it does, but there is greater meaning.  Ya’al is not the Hebrew word for “y’all,” but is the word for profit.  It means to rise above, to ascend on high, to ascend a mountain and stand on the summit.

The treasure hidden in the words of Isaiah 48:17 goes something like this:

The Lord says He is our Kin and that he has paid our debt.  He is the Only One and he trains us how to rise above every situation that would try to hold us down.  He is the Lord who encourages us up the mountain of life to the summit.

When we are agitated, it is the Lord Who teaches us to rise above.  It is the Lord who tramples the way before us and tells us which way to go.   A gym trainer shows us how to improve our endurance, body and how to be our best physical self.  It is the Lord who trains our spirit and soul.

I enCOURAGE you to follow the instruction of the ONE.  He will train you how to rise above and ascend the mountain before you.  However, you have to go to the Trainer to be trained.  He is the One Who will lead you to the top, while overcoming ever obstacle alone the way.