Isaiah 43: Remembering God in an Age of Distraction

Introduction

“One of the things that often frustrates me about myself is my capacity for distraction.” With these words, Tyler Conrad, pastor of the First International Baptist Church Copenhagen, opens his message on Isaiah 43:8 to 44:8. He is watching a great film or reading a good book, and suddenly finds himself staring at his phone. He prays, and realizes he is only lining up words. Even while preparing this sermon, he admits, he lost count of the times he caught himself reading the news.

The remedy he proposes is simple: a deliberate, intentional remembrance of who God is, every day and throughout the day. Verse 10 gives its purpose: “that you may know and believe me, and understand that I am he.” For the preacher, these words sum up how we should spend each day of our lives.

The passage revolves around three themes: the divine nature of the LORD, his salvation, and the identity of his people. The pastor walks through them, then shows why and how to remember these things.

Message Outline

1. A Distracted Age That Makes Us Forget God

Distraction is part of the human experience, but we are probably the most distracted people in history: information overload and constant access to the stimulation of our technology. “We’ve been trained to be distracted.”
This distraction benefits those who sell: more scrolling, more clicks, more attention, and in the end more money.
Satan, too, is very keen on distracting us, because distraction can lead to the decline of faith. Being distracted often means forgetting God and neglecting his will.
Distraction is not always bad. But if we live in it, it becomes a subtle sin that damages the spiritual life. Without a firm resolve to remember God, distraction, forgetfulness and neglect take over and pull us away from the intimate communion Jesus offers us.

2. The LORD, the Only Almighty God

“Before me there was no God formed, neither will there be after me” (Isaiah 43:10). “I am the first, and I am the last; and besides me there is no God” (Isaiah 44:6). “Is there a God besides me? Indeed, there is not. I don’t know any other Rock” (Isaiah 44:8).
First claim: his uniqueness and absoluteness. In Revelation, the Father and the Son both say of themselves that they are the first and the last. Everything comes from him, everything is for him. He depends on no one, owes nothing to anyone, and has no rival, no predecessor and no successor. He is the only Rock on which all things rest and find their meaning.
Second claim: his absolute sovereignty. “There is no one who can deliver out of my hand. I will work, and who can hinder it?” (Isaiah 43:13). When he chooses to act, nothing can stop his hand. No one holds back the potter’s hand. The pastor announces that he will come back to this in detail with Isaiah 45.

3. The Only Savior, Who Forgives for His Own Sake

“Besides me there is no savior” (Isaiah 43:11). He alone can save us from sin, suffering, our enemies and death.
Other helps in this world exist, but they are only a bandage on a mortal wound: everything in this broken world is wounded by the same things. Our God is above all of that.
The resurrection of Jesus proclaims it. Sin, suffering, enemies and death fell on him with all the violence possible, and he rose again, triumphant. No one else has done that.
This Savior chooses to save sinners. “Yet you have not called on me, Jacob; but you have been weary of me, Israel” (Isaiah 43:22). “You have burdened me with your sins, you have wearied me with your iniquities” (verse 24). The pastor asks: can you imagine someone neglecting you like that, again and again?
And yet: “I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake; and I will not remember your sins” (verse 25). The people do not deserve it, and that is precisely the point. God forgives out of love, out of the desire to share that love with sinful creatures.

4. Something New: the Son Given and the Spirit Poured Out

The Lord recalls the crossing of the sea, the one that brings out chariots and horses, extinguished “like a wick” (Isaiah 43:16-17). He leads his people through the depths of danger and puts an end to their enemies, as at the Red Sea.
Then he says: “Don’t remember the former things, and don’t consider the things of old. Behold, I will do a new thing” (verses 18-19). He opens a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.
This new thing, beyond compare with everything before it, is the gift of the Son, Jesus. He reconciles all things to himself, sinners and even creatures. The animals of the field honor the Lord: the pastor links this detail to the Gospel of Mark, where Jesus, in the wilderness, “was with the wild animals, and the angels were serving him.”
“I will pour my Spirit on your seed, and my blessing on your offspring” (Isaiah 44:3). The parched world receives water from heaven, and the Holy Spirit makes life grow where everything was dead.

5. A People Created to Belong to Him and Declare His Glory

“I am the LORD, your Holy One, the Creator of Israel, your King” (Isaiah 43:15). This concerns all who have been grafted into Christ, the true vine.
“Your Holy One”: he gives himself freely to us in all his perfections. “The Creator of Israel”: to be part of God’s people is to be the object of his gracious spiritual formation. “Your King”: he is our protector, our lawgiver, the one to whom all our allegiance is owed.
Three times God says that we are his chosen servants (Isaiah 43:10; 44:1-2), and three times he says: “You are my witnesses” (Isaiah 43:10, 12; 44:8). “To be chosen means you are loved. To be servants means you have a purpose. To be witnesses means you have a mission.”
“The people which I formed for myself, they shall declare my praise” (Isaiah 43:21). As servants, our purpose is to worship our saving King. As witnesses, our mission is to go to the nations to praise him by overturning their false gods, overcoming their sins and setting right their injustices.

6. Why Remember: a Command and an Antidote

We must remember because we are commanded to. By saying “don’t remember the former things,” the Lord implies that there are new things to hold on to: the new covenant, the crucifixion, the resurrection, the ascension, Pentecost, the Church and its mission.
Paul puts it simply: “Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, of the seed of David, according to my Good News” (2 Timothy 2:8).
Remembrance is the antidote to distraction, forgetfulness and neglect. In a letter to one of the churches in Revelation, Jesus prescribes this remedy against apathy: “Wake up, and keep the things that remain, which were about to die […] Remember therefore how you have received and heard, and keep it, and repent” (Revelation 3:2-3).
Without active remembrance, apathy is almost guaranteed. The pastor uses the image of the gym: if you don’t remember to go and train, your body atrophies. “The same thing is true for faith. If we don’t remember, the soul will atrophy.”

7. How to Remember: the Ordinary Rhythms of the Christian Life

“There’s no magic or no secret here.” It means taking part in the life of the church, partaking of the Lord’s Supper, worshiping the Lord, being faithful in prayer and fasting, regularly confessing sins and repenting, loving your neighbor and your enemies.
Immerse yourself in Scripture, observe the Christian feasts by taking Christmas and Easter seriously, be generous to the poor, give thanks regularly, practice hospitality.
We need concrete acts, because we are an embodied people. God gave us the Lord’s Supper, with its bread and wine, because we need tangible things. If we dismiss these practices as useless, we will forget Jesus in the midst of everything that demands our attention.
“Don’t isolate yourself. Don’t try to innovate. Just do what faithful servants of God have done for millennia.” Then you will remember the Lord in your waking and your sleeping, in your weariness and your energy, in prosperity and poverty, in your successes and your failures, in your blessings and your sufferings.
The pastor concludes with a saying of Saint Gregory, a fourth-century theologian and defender of the Trinity against Arianism: “It is more important to remember God than to breathe.” We breathe constantly, without even thinking about it. May remembering God become a habit in the same way, moment after moment.

Key Takeaways

We live in an age that trains us to be distracted, and settled distraction leads us to forget God and neglect his will.
The LORD is the first and the last: there is no other God, no other rock, and no one delivers out of his hand.
He is the only Savior, and he blots out the transgressions of those who neglected him, for his own sake.
Chosen, you are loved. A servant, you have a purpose. A witness, you have a mission.
We remember God by faithfully living the simple rhythms of the Christian life, not by looking for a new formula.

Personal Application

Which distractions take up the most room in your days, even in your moments of prayer?
This week, do you remember that the Lord is the only rock on which your life rests?
How does the fact that he blots out your transgressions “for his own sake” change the way you come to him?
As a servant and witness, where is the Lord calling you to declare his praise around you?
Which simple rhythm of the Christian life (the Lord’s Supper, prayer, Scripture, hospitality, generosity) do you want to take up again or strengthen in order to remember him?

Verses Cited

Frequently Asked Questions

Why is distraction a danger to faith?

For Tyler Conrad, distraction is not always bad, but when we live in it, it becomes a subtle sin that weakens the spiritual life. Being distracted often means forgetting God and neglecting his will. The remedy is a deliberate, intentional remembrance of who God is, every day and throughout the day.

What should we remember about God in Isaiah 43 and 44?

The preacher draws out three themes: the LORD is the only almighty God, he is the only Savior who blots out transgressions for his own sake, and he forms a people who belong to him and declare his praise, as servants and as witnesses.

How can you remember God in daily life?

There is no secret and no magic formula: it is a matter of living the ordinary rhythms of the Christian life. Church life, the Lord's Supper, worship, prayer and fasting, confession, reading Scripture, generosity, hospitality and thanksgiving all help us remember the Lord, because we are embodied beings.