I love teaching English because language allows us to explore the significance of an author’s word choice, and there is often much to uncover. One lesson focuses on personal pronouns, such as you. In English, the author often uses you to make the passage personal, to call the reader’s attention, to include them.

 

God makes his feelings toward us clear in today’s scripture: He is deeply personal.

 

In a world of more than eight billion people, it’s easy to feel lost, invisible, or insignificant – especially when comparison, rejection, or lies spewed by the enemy cloud our minds. Yet God has much to say about his children – about you and me.

 

In Isaiah 43:1, God reminds the Israelites of whose they are, offering them comfort in their identity in him, during their exile. How often do we feel “in exile” in our own lives? Left out, unqualified, unworthy, or diminished by comparison?

 

Notice that God uses the personal pronoun you three times in this one verse. You are redeemed, where the world has condemned. You are summoned, called by name, where it’s easy to feel like just another face in the crowd. You are his, where you may not feel chosen.

 

Beloved, God is personal about you. Your identity is not rooted in this world – it is in the One who created you, the One who loves you infinitely, exactly as you are.

 

When we fix our minds on the fact that our Heavenly Father makes a personal claim over us, nothing the world says can make us feel insignificant. We are already spoken for, already known, already loved.

 

Prayer: Thank you, Heavenly Father, for giving me an identity in you. Help me to stay grounded in who I am in you, especially when I feel lost, overlooked, or unworthy. Amen.