Bible Stories for the Young
Green triangles are narrated and fully illustrated and will have simple animation added along the way. Yellow triangles have narration, but the illustrations aren't done yet. Videos with red triangles are planned. New and updated videos will be added very often.
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Do you remember how I mentioned in the last story that God’s Promise to bring us back close to Him and never be angry with us again… had a condition? That means there’s something that has to happen before that Promise can come true. Being a person who can sing in faith doesn’t just happen to us automatically.
God said, “Hey, empty people! You who are thirsty, come to the water! You who have no money, come and eat! Come! Get yourself some juice and milk for free, free, free!
“Why go somewhere else and pay money for something that won’t even fill you up? Why spend your hard-earned money on something that will not satisfy you? Listen carefully to Me and eat what is good for you! Enjoy good food. Pay attention and come, come, come to Me. Listen to Me, so you can live. Then I will make a forever covenant promise to you, just like the trustworthy covenant promises I made to David.”
Did you hear that? A forever covenant promise! But did you notice what we have to do to get it? We gotta come to Him. We have to accept His invitation and agree to the New Deal with Him. If we come empty to Him, and listen carefully to Him, then He can fill us up and make His Promises. But we gotta agree to His Deal. Isaiah had more to say about what that means.
He said, “Seek the Lord while He makes Himself available; call to Him while He’s close by!
“You need to leave your mean and yucky ways in the dust. And let go of all your sinful self-made plans. Turn away from all that and come to the Lord your God, and He will show you mercy and freely forgive you.”
The Lord said, “I’m telling ya, My plans are not like your plans, and My way is different from your way.”
“Just like the sky is higher than the ground, My ways are that much higher than your ways and My plans that much better than your plans.”
Do you ever have big ideas or plans of something you REALLY want to do, but then maybe your mom or dad have different plans for you? They say, “I need you to do this instead right now.” Or maybe you have a way that you want to do something, but they say, “This way is better.”
When that happens, what do you do? I hope you are soft-hearted and a joy to be around when that happens. I know it can be easy to fuss or whine or cry, but please don’t do that.
Instead, do what God is saying to do here. Just let it go. Let go of your idea or plans. Being soft-hearted to your parents in this makes God happy.
But it’s also good practice. Because if we want to someday be one of those people of Faith that we talked about in the last story, then we gotta learn to let go of our ways and plans. Because if we don’t let go of them, we won’t be able find out what His better plans and ways are. We’ll miss out on His Promise and all that Sing, Sing, Singing. Let’s not do that.
“The rain and snow fall from the sky and give the earth water so that crops grow, and provide seed for the planter and food for the hungry people.
“In the same way, the promise that I make won’t come back to Me empty. My promises will do something!
“You will go out with joy; you will be led along the path in peace; the mountains and hills will give a joyful shout in front of you, and all the trees in the field will clap, clap, clap their hands.”
Sounds like a good plan and promise, doesn’t it? It’s free but we gotta “come and get it.” It’s free, but we gotta let go of our own plans and ways, and agree to His Deal.
Through Isaiah, God goes on to say how His promises will be for EVERYONE! They aren’t just for a certain special people — they are for anyone and everyone who will turn away from yuckiness and let go of their own plans.
The people who let go — He will gather them together, and they will be His!
Here’s a song you can sing to help you remember that His ways are all good.
Let Go and Let God have His wonderful way Let Go and Let God have His way Your burdens will vanish Your night turn to day Let Go and Let God have His way