What you pawned, I’ll redeem

What you pawned, I’ll redeem

Can a woman forget her nursing child? Will she have no compassion on the child from her womb? Although mothers may forget, I will not forget you.
Isaiah 49:15 God’s Word Translation

My wife and I like to peruse antiques shops. That is a fancy way of saying that we sometimes check out the stuff that other people have thrown out. In a sense, it is trash picking. People may no longer have a use for that old cabinet or a dented metal container. So they pile the broken and abused items into their cars and drop them at a pawn shop, or a mission of some kind. And that is where I show up; looking at each unwanted item and trying to re-imagine its purpose. For you it is an unwanted bottle, but I might see it as a vase for flowers. I remember picking up a broken piece of a dressing table. I turned it into a glass door apothecary cabinet. Sometimes, old trash heaps have the most incredible finds if you are willing to put some of yourself into them, help them become something greater than what they are.

And likewise you may feel broken, dented and abused. You may feel like you are ready for the trash heap. You may not think you have any value or beauty at all. And you may feel discarded… Maybe you feel like the child in today’s Bible verse, abandoned by the one that is supposed to love and care for you. But know that if all others have abandoned you, God would never forget you!

I think that God sort of goes trash picking, looking for valuable finds. He looks at us and re-imagines us, creates a new purpose for us. To the world, we may not be worth much. We may be easily overlooked, but not to God. The world may see us and say, “They will never amount to anything.” But God sees us and thinks, “Mmmm… I can do something with these!” If we allow the Lord to have His way with us, He will make us into something so wonderful, purposeful and magnificent! What they pawned and counted as loss, the Lord will redeem. And He wants to do that for you right now.