For My Own Sake I Do It
Isaiah 48:9-11 9 For the sake of my name I ⌊refrain from⌋ my anger, and for my praise I restrain it for you so as not to cut you off. 10 Look! I have refined you, but not like silver; I have chosen you in the furnace of misery. 11 For my own sake, for my own sake I do it; for why should it be defiled? And I will not give my glory to another. My thoughts here feel hard to put together - it’s a comforting thing to me to hear God say he restrains his anger for the sake of his name. God’s Name is a holy thing, he is a holy thing. In his sovereignty and power he chooses people, he chose me and loves me. Because his choices are his choices and they have nothing to do with me, it is comforting to me to hear that God prioritizes his own character over anything else. He doesn’t bless me or help me at the expense of anyone else or for my own sake - every blessing I have is for the sake of his own Name. It’s also objectively and morally good and right for him to make these choices for his own Nam…