I have summoned you!

“Fear not, my precious one. For I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name… YOU ARE MINE!”

What does this mean – “I have summoned you by name.”
It means he called us to be his long before we ever called out to him to save us.
He summoned us…. He called out to the four winds… YOU ARE MINE… come home!
And before we ever heard those words aloud…. Our hearts heard them.

The reason we gather to worship and listen to his word is because he summoned us long ago.
The reason our hearts turned to him at some time and began to drink in his words… is that he summoned us - because he wanted us.

This whole passage is the language of covenant.
The Lord… the Holy One of Israel is speaking covenant language. He chose to make himself our covenant partner. “You are my people, and I am your God.”
It was his choice before it was ours. It was His actions, not ours which made us His. He decided and acted long, long before we decided and responded.

Covenant means we belong to him, and he belongs to us.
All he is is available to us – and all we are he rightly expects to be available to him. This is Covenant life.
He decided we would be his before we even existed on this earth.
He created us in every detail to be his – and he paid that awful price to get us back again.
And so he calls and calls and calls – “come back to me my precious one… you are mine.”
He calls us by name – individually – personally. Because he knows us all by name.

And when he says “Fear not – I have redeemed you, You are mine…” he is saying not only ‘you are my choice’ but‘you are my responsibility – everything about you is my responsibility.
Your debts, your sins, your struggles, your fears, your dreams, your hopes, your best endeavours….your worst days… I am carrying all of these’. I carry the full weight of your lives…and you don’t need to.

This is why Jesus can say - “Take my yoke upon you and learn of me, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light’.
Covenant means that he, the Lord, our Father, our Saviour, our Elder Brother, carries the weight of our lives. Past, present and future.
We no longer need to carry it. We no longer need to live with fear and anxiety and uncertainty.

What would happen in your heart… in the way you live your life if this reality grabbed you and re-ordered your inner being? "I called you…. I initiated everything….You are my responsibility… so there is nothing to fear." How would you live if this was real to you?