Connecting the Dots…

Therefore I will give their wives to others and their fields to conquerors, because from the least to the greatest everyone is greedy for unjust gain; from prophet to priest, everyone deals falsely. They have healed the wound of my people lightly, saying, ‘Peace, peace,’ when there is no peace. Were they ashamed when they committed abomination? No, they were not at all ashamed; they did not know how to blush. Therefore they shall fall among the fallen; when I punish them, they shall be overthrown, says the Lord. When I would gather them, declares the Lord, there are no grapes on the vine, nor figs on the fig tree; even the leaves are withered, and what I gave them has passed away from them.” (Jeremiah 8:10–13)

Consequences. If I do this, what will happen? When the news reports the latest decisions by political or business decision makers, it seems far too many of them guess what will happen next based on their hopes rather than historical evidence or popular thinking. While ‘time while tell’ no one can predict the future.

The OT people who read this warning from God must not have believed Him concerning this as well as concerning obedience. Think of a child whose parent threatens punishment for misbehaving but the child simple keeps on doing what they are doing, or refusing to do what they should be doing. This child is not only willful but does not see the rationale or love in the commandment. “Don’t touch the stove” is heard as “Touch the stove” because of that immature and selfish attitude of “I want what I want when I want it.” 

Not only that, some will connect the consequences to something other than their own actions. The stove was hot because mother left it on, or no one informed them about burns and pain. Multiply this simple example by the complexity of life and no wonder so many folks are surprised and upset with what is happening in our world and in their lives.

Personally, I cannot be responsible for much of it. Even my own live demands decisions with unknown results. What can I do to have assurance the results will be okay? This comes to mind:

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths. (Proverbs 3:5–6)

A small example. Last night we were invited to the home of friends. We had not eaten and thought to grab a hamburger on the way. My hubby decided the Lord was telling him not to do that but stay for a short visit and perhaps eat on the way home. When we arrived, our hostess had prepared a fantastic meal for us — which we would have missed if we had followed our original plan. 

Jesus, if I don’t listen to You, the results may not show up right away. I’ve learned that the hard way. Keep me tuned in to You, trusting You for consequences that are a blessing, or at least a strong lesson in Your power to use my obedience for Your glory.

Bad news yet forgiveness…

Thus says the Lord: “Stand by the roads, and look, and ask for the ancient paths, where the good way is; and walk in it, and find rest for your souls. But they said, ‘We will not walk in it.’ I set watchmen over you, saying, ‘Pay attention to the sound of the trumpet!’ But they said, ‘We will not pay attention.’ Therefore hear, O nations, and know, O congregation, what will happen to them. Hear, O earth; behold, I am bringing disaster upon this people, the fruit of their devices, because they have not paid attention to my words; and as for my law, they have rejected it. What use to me is frankincense that comes from Sheba, or sweet cane from a distant land? Your burnt offerings are not acceptable, nor your sacrifices pleasing to me. Therefore thus says the Lord: ‘Behold, I will lay before this people stumbling blocks against which they shall stumble; fathers and sons together, neighbor and friend shall perish.’ ” Thus says the Lord: “Behold, a people is coming from the north country, a great nation is stirring from the farthest parts of the earth. They lay hold on bow and javelin; they are cruel and have no mercy; the sound of them is like the roaring sea; they ride on horses, set in array as a man for battle, against you, O daughter of Zion!” (Jeremiah 6:16–23)

Is God still like this? Maybe a better question: are people still like this? Last night I was restless and decided to watch a cop show that I usually don’t watch. It was about a woman who worked for a risqué dating service and discovered (for a friend who also worked for that service) the real name of a client who abused her friend. Before she could tell her friend who it was, she was murdered. Eventually the police found out who he was and the other crimes he was guilty of and arrested him. He was a pastor. 

I couldn’t sleep. This was too much, yet this passage from an OT prophet made me wonder if those who consider themselves God's people can be as guilty of hypocrisy as those on fictional television. Do any ‘saints’ refuse to live that way when no one is looking? God knows, and He knows what to do about it.

And now, because you have done all these things, declares the Lord, and when I spoke to you persistently you did not listen, and when I called you, you did not answer, therefore. . . . I will cast you out of my sight, as I cast out all your kinsmen. . . . As for you, do not pray for this people, or lift up a cry or prayer for them, and do not intercede with me, for I will not hear you. (They) make cakes for the queen of heaven. And they pour out drink offerings to other gods, to provoke me to anger. Is it I whom they provoke? declares the Lord. Is it not themselves, to their own shame? Therefore thus says the Lord God: Behold, my anger and my wrath will be poured out on this place, upon man and beast, upon the trees of the field and the fruit of the ground; it will burn and not be quenched.” (Jeremiah 7:13–20)

What does the NT say about all this? It tells of a man similar to the one on the TV show. Paul wrote: “It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that is not tolerated even among pagans, for a man has his father’s wife. And you are arrogant! Ought you not rather to mourn? Let him who has done this be removed from among you.” (1 Corinthians 5:1–2) So the guilty one was to be put out rather than instantly pardoned, but after a time, Paul wrote this:

Now if anyone has caused pain, he has caused it not to me, but in some measure—not to put it too severely—to all of you. For such a one, this punishment by the majority is enough, so you should rather turn to forgive and comfort him, or he may be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow. So I beg you to reaffirm your love for him. For this is why I wrote, that I might test you and know whether you are obedient in everything. Anyone whom you forgive, I also forgive. Indeed, what I have forgiven, if I have forgiven anything, has been for your sake in the presence of Christ, so that we would not be outwitted by Satan; for we are not ignorant of his designs. (2 Corinthians 2:5–11)

Lord, I assume the man repented. I also assume this should be the way I respond to others whose sin marked them as ungodly hypocrites — genuine repentance is vital (1 John 1:9) because that is the way back to You, Jesus. People might fool other people but they cannot fool You. And to be like You, I must be as quick to forgive as I am angry over sin.

Transformation can be costly

To whom shall I speak and give warning, that they may hear? Behold, their ears are uncircumcised, they cannot listen; behold, the word of the Lord is to them an object of scorn; they take no pleasure in it. Therefore I am full of the wrath of the Lord; I am weary of holding it in. 
“Pour it out upon the children in the street, and upon the gatherings of young men, also; both husband and wife shall be taken, the elderly and the very aged. Their houses shall be turned over to others, their fields and wives together, for I will stretch out my hand against the inhabitants of the land,” declares the Lord. For from the least to the greatest of them, everyone is greedy for unjust gain; and from prophet to priest, everyone deals falsely. They have healed the wound of my people lightly, saying, ‘Peace, peace,’ when there is no peace. Were they ashamed when they committed abomination? No, they were not at all ashamed; they did not know how to blush. Therefore they shall fall among those who fall; at the time that I punish them, they shall be overthrown,” says the Lord. (Jeremiah 6:10–15)

While Jeremiah is an OT favorite book, I understand why many Christians do not read it, and many pastors do not preach from it. Why not? Because much of it is strong warnings and rebukes for sin. We know that the Messiah came and died for all of it and offers us forgiveness and a new life, and that is our focus. However, we all know how that victory does not make our battle against sin go away.

Nor does it lessen our responsibility to tell those still caught it its lies the truth of what Jesus has done to defeat death and offer us no condemnation for our guilt. He bore it all. Why then do Christians still get tempted and sometimes fall back into that trap? Didn’t Christ free us from sin?

Yes, the guilt and punishment, even sin’s power has been defeated, but not everyone walks in the truth of that. Our old nature is dead, separated from God, yet it hangs on to us like the dead body of murdered people were one hung on the backs of those who did the deed. The stench is supposed to be a reminder to never yield to sin or pull me back into repeating my old ways, yet that pride of “I’m okay and good” becomes a snare to slide into running my own life.

Not only that, in my new life I am supposed to love others enough to help anyone who gets caught or recaptured by sin:

Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted. Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. For if anyone thinks he is something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself. (Galatians 6:1–3)
We who are strong have an obligation to bear with the failings of the weak, and not to please ourselves. Let each of us please his neighbor for his good, to build him up. For Christ did not please himself, but as it is written, “The reproaches of those who reproached you fell on me.” (Romans 15:1–3)

This is hard work. Those caught in sin have problems with being restored. Pride keeps me from admitting my problems. Selfishness keeps me from wanting to take time and effort to gently restore others. It is less trouble to ignore them, not care, walk the other way, look down my nose, or even pray now and then, than it is to really want or take action to encourage holiness — both in myself and in those around me.

This is reason enough to pray for and support other Christians, especially our pastors, not question or criticize them or their work. God goes to great lengths to transform us into the image of His Son. Should I not be willing to be transformed to that same image? What do I need to give up to be more like Him? Reputation? Friends? Time? Energy? The list can be long.

Jesus, I’m not thrilled to read all these OT rebukes and warnings, but they do apply to the transformation You intend in my salvation. Work Your will into my heart and increase my desire to do and be whatever You spell out for me.

Saved from…

But this people has a stubborn and rebellious heart; they have turned aside and gone away. They do not say in their hearts, ‘Let us fear the Lord our God, who gives the rain in its season, the autumn rain and the spring rain, and keeps for us the weeks appointed for the harvest.’ Your iniquities have turned these away, and your sins have kept good from you. For wicked men are found among my people; they lurk like fowlers lying in wait. They set a trap; they catch men. Like a cage full of birds, their houses are full of deceit; therefore they have become great and rich; they have grown fat and sleek. They know no bounds in deeds of evil; they judge not with justice the cause of the fatherless, to make it prosper, and they do not defend the rights of the needy. Shall I not punish them for these things? declares the Lord, and shall I not avenge myself on a nation such as this?” An appalling and horrible thing has happened in the land: the prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests rule at their direction; my people love to have it so, but what will you do when the end comes? Flee for safety, O people of Benjamin, from the midst of Jerusalem! Blow the trumpet in Tekoa, and raise a signal on Beth-haccherem, for disaster looms out of the north, and great destruction. (Jeremiah 5:23–6:1)

A pastor says we can choose whatever we want, but we cannot choose the consequences. This remark was made to encourage listeners to choose faith in Jesus Christ because sitting on the fence is the same as saying NO to Him and the consequences for doing that are eternal condemnation.

The OT prophets wrote the same message to those with that same attitude and God said, “Shall I not punish them for these things?” He had every right to do so because His law says, “The soul that sins shall die” with death meaning separation from God forever. Very likely this is the consequence referred to by His statement, “But what will you do when the end comes?” Yet the above passage speaks of other consequences, such as withholding rain and other disasters in their lives.

Not all current affairs are the result of the sins of those who suffer in this life, but that final separation from God is certain for those who say NO to Jesus Christ. That is the bad news. The good news is:

Jesus said, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. (John 14:6)

And for those who take that seriously, the Word of God says: 

There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. (Romans 8:1)

And this is very good news!

Jesus, You don’t promise comfort and a perfect life here as a consequence, but You do promise an abundant life, and the peace that passes understanding, and the assurance of eternal life. You walk with me and hear my prayers. Death is no longer a dreaded separation but a changed life now and assurance of eternity with You. 

The Best Place to be…

O Lord, do not your eyes look for truth? You have struck them down, but they felt no anguish; you have consumed them, but they refused to take correction. They have made their faces harder than rock; they have refused to repent. Then I said, “These are only the poor; they have no sense; for they do not know the way of the Lord, the justice of their God. I will go to the great and will speak to them, for they know the way of the Lord, the justice of their God.” But they all alike had broken the yoke; they had burst the bonds. Therefore a lion from the forest shall strike them down; a wolf from the desert shall devastate them. A leopard is watching their cities; everyone who goes out of them shall be torn in pieces, because their transgressions are many, their apostasies are great. 
“How can I pardon you? Your children have forsaken me and have sworn by those who are no gods. When I fed them to the full, they committed adultery and trooped to the houses of whores. (Jeremiah 5:1-7)

Jeremiah uses colorful but crude words to describe the condition of God's people who were worshiping other gods. They were like men who lusted after women other than their wives. He tells them what will happen to them because they refused to listen to and obey Him:

Shall I not punish them for these things? declares the Lord; and shall I not avenge myself on a nation such as this? “Go up through her vine rows and destroy, but make not a full end; strip away her branches, for they are not the Lord’s. For the house of Israel and the house of Judah have been utterly treacherous to me, declares the Lord. They have spoken falsely of the Lord and have said, ‘He will do nothing; no disaster will come upon us, nor shall we see sword or famine. The prophets will become wind; the word is not in them. Thus shall it be done to them!’ ” 
Therefore thus says the Lord, the God of hosts: “Because you have spoken this word, behold, I am making my words in your mouth a fire, and this people wood, and the fire shall consume them. Behold, I am bringing against you a nation from afar, O house of Israel, declares the Lord. It is an enduring nation; it is an ancient nation, a nation whose language you do not know, nor can you understand what they say. Their quiver is like an open tomb; they are all mighty warriors. They shall eat up your harvest and your food; they shall eat up your sons and your daughters; they shall eat up your flocks and your herds; they shall eat up your vines and your fig trees; your fortified cities in which you trust they shall beat down with the sword.” 
“But even in those days, declares the Lord, I will not make a full end of you. And when your people say, ‘Why has the Lord our God done all these things to us?’ you shall say to them, ‘As you have forsaken me and served foreign gods in your land, so you shall serve foreigners in a land that is not yours.’ ” (Jeremiah 5:8–19)

Even though obedience to God does not earn salvation or His mercy, when God freely offers it and we refuse it, there are consequences for our rejection. Like this OT description, I can expect that ignoring God to do my own thing (sin) things will happen that could have been avoided, or at least I will remove my ability to remain joyful in trials — because God will not bless my disobedience.

I could be wrong, but in my observations, obedience does not make for a prosperous life (it could) but it can make for peace and joy in trials. If I am disobedient, trials are designed to pull me to the faith God wants for me. He may still answer prayer if I am being a brat, but I will not have that same sense of security that comes when I know I am doing what He tells me to do. In other words, my salvation does not depend on what I do, but He blesses those who listen and obey and He disciplines those who do not.

Jesus, I know it is easy to fall into thinking I can earn anything from You by obedience but that twists the purpose of Your blessings. You bless me so I can rejoice in and praise You, not so I can boast that I earned it. You want the best for me and sin cannot deliver that. Obedience can feel like being between a rock and a hard place, but You are my Rock and I know the best place to be.

What is God really like?

But you who forsake the Lord, who forget my holy mountain, who set a table for Fortune and fill cups of mixed wine for Destiny, I will destine you to the sword, and all of you shall bow down to the slaughter, because, when I called, you did not answer; when I spoke, you did not listen, but you did what was evil in my eyes and chose what I did not delight in.” Therefore thus says the Lord God: “Behold, my servants shall eat, but you shall be hungry; behold, my servants shall drink, but you shall be thirsty; behold, my servants shall rejoice, but you shall be put to shame; behold, my servants shall sing for gladness of heart, but you shall cry out for pain of heart and shall wail for breaking of spirit. You shall leave your name to my chosen for a curse, and the Lord God will put you to death, but his servants he will call by another name, so that he who blesses himself in the land shall bless himself by the God of truth, and he who takes an oath in the land shall swear by the God of truth; because the former troubles are forgotten and are hidden from my eyes. “For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth, and the former things shall not be remembered or come into mind. (Isaiah 65:11–17)

Hell and judgment are not popular topics. But what would I think of a God who claims to be holy yet puts up with persistent sin? Could I worship a God who mercifully offers forgiveness and freedom from sin and then looks the other way when sinners prefer their choices over such grace? Does not God have the right to withhold blessing or eternal life from the people who defy Him or just ignore Him?

We get upset with the police who ignore crime or even speedsters who break the law plainly written on road signs. We get upset with doctors who ignore symptoms and tell sick people to take two aspirins and go home. It bothers many to see children abandoned by their parents or teachers who ignore their class. Yet God is criticized for letting the consequences of sin take down those who will not listen to Him and insist on sin?

It should break my heart to see the rich abuse the poor, and political leaders use their power for personal gain. I should also be glad to hear the prophets make declarations such as these:

“Therefore I still contend with you, declares the Lord, and with your children’s children I will contend. For cross to the coasts of Cyprus and see, or send to Kedar and examine with care; see if there has been such a thing. Has a nation changed its gods, even though they are no gods? But my people have changed their glory for that which does not profit. Be appalled, O heavens, at this; be shocked, be utterly desolate, declares the Lord, for my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water. (Jeremiah 2:9–13)

How sad to see the ‘wealthy and wise’ of this world value their gods that cannot see or talk and will not last, nor go to the grave with them, and to watch them live as if they are gods themselves, ruining lives until they themselves also become terminal.

And yet the love of God remains. No one is beyond repentance and redemption. How different He is from the gods of this world who entrap and bind people in sin and selfishness that ruins their destiny and harms so many along the way.

Jesus, no wonder You tell us to pray for those leaders. Not for our comfort but for their souls and for us to be at peace even if they keep on resisting You. Grant me the patience that trusts You with those who say no. You might lead them to repentance, but like the prophets say, You may also leave them to eternal punishment. 

Changed lives…

I will recount the steadfast love of the Lord, the praises of the Lord, according to all that the Lord has granted us, and the great goodness to the house of Israel that he has granted them according to his compassion, according to the abundance of his steadfast love. For he said, “Surely they are my people, children who will not deal falsely.” And he became their Savior. In all their affliction he was afflicted, and the angel of his presence saved them; in his love and in his pity he redeemed them; he lifted them up and carried them all the days of old. But they rebelled and grieved his Holy Spirit; therefore he turned to be their enemy, and himself fought against them. Then he remembered the days of old, of Moses and his people. Where is he who brought them up out of the sea with the shepherds of his flock? Where is he who put in the midst of them his Holy Spirit, who caused his glorious arm to go at the right hand of Moses, who divided the waters before them to make for himself an everlasting name, who led them through the depths? Like a horse in the desert, they did not stumble. Like livestock that go down into the valley, the Spirit of the Lord gave them rest. So you led your people, to make for yourself a glorious name. (Isaiah 63:7–14)

As a new Christian many years ago, my mentor had me do a Bible study on sin. I don’t remember the details of that lengthy study, but realize the wisdom of this assignment. Instead of responding to conviction of sin with honest confession, it made me realize how often I made excuses for it. 

That happens, sometimes with deliberate deception in order to cover it, and sometimes with a sincere belief that whatever was done was okay. These days, I think of a non-Christian who takes great effort to do and say the right things. Another person is a Christian but takes the glory for all his skills to the point of bragging about them. As these things happen, I feel sadness. Both are stressed with their actions and attitude and yet cannot see (or admit) that they are doing the wrong thing by being insincere. 

My role? Pray. One is oblivious to her hypocrisy. The other is hearing rebuke but his pride holds tight to his own power to do good.

Jesus, it has taken me years to see how I’ve done both. My pride in myself has blocked my relationship with You. Once I could see and honestly deal wit it, what a difference. As I’ve told these two, being weak and unable is actually better than thinking I can do it all without You. In feeling and admitting, I rely on You and then discover more love and power than I’d never know otherwise. Your ways and Your will are always a joyful surprise. I’d love to see You in action in the lives of these two people. Right now, both seem oblivious, yet You are God who can reveal truth and change hearts. May they hear You and be transformed.

Promises for family…

The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn; to grant to those who mourn in Zion— to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit; that they may be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he may be glorified. They shall build up the ancient ruins; they shall raise up the former devastations; they shall repair the ruined cities, the devastations of many generations. Strangers shall stand and tend your flocks; foreigners shall be your plowmen and vinedressers; but you shall be called the priests of the Lord; they shall speak of you as the ministers of our God; you shall eat the wealth of the nations, and in their glory you shall boast. Instead of your shame there shall be a double portion; instead of dishonor they shall rejoice in their lot; therefore in their land they shall possess a double portion; they shall have everlasting joy. (Isaiah 61:1–7)

Even Christians alert to the mess in the world worry about what will be the fate of our children and grandchildren. Some speak of the return of Christ, yet with concern that the generation that experiences that wonderful event will suffer greatly. Such worry is either ignorant of God's promises, or unaware of what He can do. 

Is the above passage a lie? A false promise? Up until now, everything God promised has happened. Is He going to cease bringing good news to the poor, or stop binding up the brokenhearted? Will there be no more liberty for those who are not free, or comfort for those who grieve? Will God granting righteousness to sinners and cease bringing glory to Himself?

If I trust Him now, for today’s faith and and spiritual needs, and to bring me through tests and trials, why not trust Him to do the same in the future, or even for those who are not yet born? 

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. (Hebrews 13:8)

God does not change. My offspring might, but that depends on Him. He can draw them to Himself and give them redemption and the new life of Christ. For this, whether I get to see it or not, I have the assurances of God's unchanging love and promises. He says:

All your children shall be taught by the Lord, and great shall be the peace of your children. (Isaiah 54:13)

My part? Obey the Lord. Do what He says. Teach as He leads. Live like His Son. Pray for them always.

Jesus, Your Spirit convicts of sin an grants understanding and redemption. May I not interfere with what You do and speak, but support and glorify You by what I do and say. 

 

OT Gospel

Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save, or his ear dull, that it cannot hear; but your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear. (Isaiah 59:1–2)
Therefore justice is far from us, and righteousness does not overtake us; we hope for light, and behold, darkness, and for brightness, but we walk in gloom. We grope for the wall like the blind; we grope like those who have no eyes; we stumble at noon as in the twilight, among those in full vigor we are like dead men. (Isaiah 59:9–10)

Good news begins with bad news. All are sinners, separated from God as He hides His face from us. Sin requires punishment. But love and mercy demand justice…

Truth is lacking, and he who departs from evil makes himself a prey. The Lord saw it, and it displeased him that there was no justice. He saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no one to intercede; then his own arm brought him salvation, and his righteousness upheld him. He put on righteousness as a breastplate, and a helmet of salvation on his head; he put on garments of vengeance for clothing, and wrapped himself in zeal as a cloak. (Isaiah 59:15–17)

Therefore God puts on a human body, is born to human parents, grows up as a sinless man, and takes our place to receive what we deserve for our sin…

“And a Redeemer will come to Zion, to those in Jacob who turn from transgression,” declares the Lord. “And as for me, this is my covenant with them,” says the Lord: “My Spirit that is upon you, and my words that I have put in your mouth, shall not depart out of your mouth, or out of the mouth of your offspring, or out of the mouth of your children’s offspring,” says the Lord, “from this time forth and forevermore.” 

And because of His amazing grace, we enter His kingdom, with His ways, blessings, a new way to live, and all goodness and glory comes to us because the Lord died that we might live…

Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you. For behold, darkness shall cover the earth, and thick darkness the peoples; but the Lord will arise upon you, and his glory will be seen upon you. And nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising. Lift up your eyes all around, and see; they all gather together, they come to you; your sons shall come from afar, and your daughters shall be carried on the hip. Then you shall see and be radiant; your heart shall thrill and exult, because the abundance of the sea shall be turned to you, the wealth of the nations shall come to you. (Isaiah 59:20–60:5)

God silenced the bad news by becoming a substitute to redeem sinners, to bring good news and change our destiny. What a wonder! Jesus died for me and He now lives in me — and in all who believe.

But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?” So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ. (Romans 10:16–17)

Jesus, the desire of my heart is that all hear it, all believe it, all join me in this journey from sinner to saint, from hell-bound to heaven-bound, from fear to freedom, from shame to glory, from death to eternal life.

He is both merciful and just…

The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn; to grant to those who mourn in Zion— to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit; that they may be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he may be glorified. They shall build up the ancient ruins; they shall raise up the former devastations; they shall repair the ruined cities, the devastations of many generations. 
Strangers shall stand and tend your flocks; foreigners shall be your plowmen and vinedressers; but you shall be called the priests of the Lord; they shall speak of you as the ministers of our God; you shall eat the wealth of the nations, and in their glory you shall boast. Instead of your shame there shall be a double portion; instead of dishonor they shall rejoice in their lot; therefore in their land they shall possess a double portion; they shall have everlasting joy. 
For I the Lord love justice; I hate robbery and wrong; I will faithfully give them their recompense, and I will make an everlasting covenant with them. Their offspring shall be known among the nations, and their descendants in the midst of the peoples; all who see them shall acknowledge them, that they are an offspring the Lord has blessed. 
(Isaiah 61:1–9)

Sometimes I feel like a teeter-totter. On one end sits a pessimist who tends to see the worst and can even dip into a depressive thought that nothing good is happening and nothing good will ever happen. Yet that thinking flies away when God gives me passages like this one. He is not done with sinners and the optimist end of the see-saw rises and laughs at my foolishness. How can I forget the promises and plans of God?

Nothing is too hard for Him, yet I have to be on the high side to see it. Getting there requires deeper thinking, focused thought, determination to know what I know, and confession of all unbelief that allows that pessimist be the heavy weight in this battle.

The very next verse in this passage tells me how to think, how to defeat that negative thinking:

I will greatly rejoice in the Lord; my soul shall exult in my God, for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation; he has covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself like a priest with a beautiful headdress, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels. (Isaiah 61:10)

 And the NT has much to say about this spiritual war with the flaming arrows of those evil ‘principalities and powers’ that are determined to overthrow my faith:

Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure. Do all things without grumbling or disputing, that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast to the word of life. . . .  (Philippians 2:12–16)

Having God work in me includes giving me the will to do the work He asks. I know my helplessness and have realized that it is in that helplessness that He not only works but is glorified. The pessimist gives Him opportunity to declare His hatred of sin and the optimist states the wonder of His grace and mercy.

Jesus, when people ask how I am, I often make this hand gesture /\/\/\/ for it is true that life is that way because You teach me who You are in both the sunshine and the storms, the ups and downs of life. Many only want the ups with its optimism yet I know You better because of the downs, and either way, that You are with me and working out my salvation for me so that I shine and don’t grumble.

Gospel — Jesus is calling…

And they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death, although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth. Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him; he has put him to grief; when his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities. Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and makes intercession for the transgressors. (Isaiah 53:9–12)

The Gospel is simple yet so profound and so different than human thinking that it makes no sense without the Holy Spirit’s gift of faith to understand it and believe it. Think of it; God became a man. How sci-fi that sounds. And that man was sinless, meaning He didn’t do anything according to His own will but always spoke and acted as instructed by His Father in heaven. And His Father in heaven told Him to take our place and die for our sins, which He did, again saying “Not my will but Thine be done.”

We occasionally have a parent who offers to take the punishment or pay the fine for their offspring who has committed a crime, but that is infinitely small compared to what Jesus did that day on a cross just outside Jerusalem. 

This is how Isaiah describes sin:

All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. (Isaiah 53:6)

Consider the population even at this moment and how each person, including Christians, makes decisions  without consulting God. Then multiply that by all the people that ever lived. That is an awful lot of sin. And pain, guilt. And all children are born with this sinful way of life. The entire human race is at odds with our Creator — unless we accept Jesus and His sacrifice as our salvation. 

Further, no one can do the will of the Father without Him. That sin-nature is unable to yield without the power of the Holy Spirit who comes to live in believers. It is as Jesus said:

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.” (John 15:1–5)

Yet even as we need Him, He blesses us just as the OT prophet says:

No weapon that is fashioned against you shall succeed, and you shall refute every tongue that rises against you in judgment. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord and their vindication from me, declares the Lord.” (Isaiah 54:17)

For this incredible truth, the Lord calls to everyone with this invitation:

“Seek the Lord while he may be found; call upon him while he is near; let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the Lord, that he may have compassion on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. (Isaiah 55:6–9)

Yes, it is simple, but the Gospel is profound and beyond understanding to human thoughts. For this reason…

Lord Jesus, I continue to pray that You will have mercy on all who have not yet heard Your call and given their lives to You. Speak to the hearts of unsaved family and friends, to all men and women who are lost without faith in You. Do a mighty work of redemption before You come again and before it is too late.

Grow Deeper in Trials

For thus says the Lord: “You were sold for nothing, and you shall be redeemed without money.” For thus says the Lord God: “My people went down at the first into Egypt to sojourn there, and the Assyrian oppressed them for nothing. Now therefore what have I here,” declares the Lord, “seeing that my people are taken away for nothing? Their rulers wail,” declares the Lord, “and continually all the day my name is despised. Therefore my people shall know my name. Therefore in that day they shall know that it is I who speak; here I am.” (Isaiah 52:3–6)

Israel had experienced three captivities. They “went down” voluntarily into Egypt by  invitation to live there but eventually were cruelly and unjustly reduced to slavery. After God delivered them to freedom, many of them were violently carried into captivity by the Assyrian kings who also oppressed them. Then later, as Isaiah wrote, they were suffering under a third captivity in Babylonia. 

God received nothing when he allowed his people to become slaves. He took no price for them, and therefore is free to claim them back without payment but He has to say the word, so what will He do under these circumstances?

God speaks of three principal issues to answer His own question. 1) The Babylonians have obtained possession of the Israelites without purchase—for nought; (2)They use their authority harshly and brutally; and (3) they continually blaspheme the His Name. All three are grounds for bringing the captivity to an end, and coming forward with the cry of a deliverer, “Here I am.” 

While the oppressors insult over these captives with shouts and yells of triumph in blaspheming the name of the Lord, they begin to understand by practical experience who God is and that He is powerful. They began to understand that a day of deliverance would come.
I do not need to imagine the conflict of being held in a place where God is insulted and I am hearing the insults. This a description of what I experience in spiritual warfare. The Liar is loud and takes advantage of unpleasant or unexpected external circumstances such as illness, loss, and other trials to turn my head the wrong way.

Again, Jesus You say, “Here I am” and Your presence and Your voice are enough — for it is in these battles that I more deeply know You. As you say, You use all things for my good, even the taunts of my enemies to teach me about You.

Relief from the Accuser

Therefore hear this, you who are afflicted, who are drunk, but not with wine: Thus says your Lord, the Lord, your God who pleads the cause of his people: “Behold, I have taken from your hand the cup of staggering; the bowl of my wrath you shall drink no more; and I will put it into the hand of your tormentors, who have said to you, ‘Bow down, that we may pass over’; and you have made your back like the ground and like the street for them to pass over.” (Isaiah 51:21–23)

By the thinking of many Christians, these days are the last days according to the many descriptions in both OT and NT. I’m cautious about date-setting yet the daily news seems to be building up to something.

One thing I’ve noticed is the activity of the Liar in my own life. Every time God blesses me with answered prayer or an opportunity to share Jesus with someone else, I get an extreme attack of accusations from Satan about who God is (or isn’t) and my failures as a member of His family. His lies have enough truth in them that I often feel lost and crippled and need to remember passages like this one:

And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God. And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death. Therefore, rejoice, O heavens and you who dwell in them! But woe to you, O earth and sea, for the devil has come down to you in great wrath, because he knows that his time is short!” (Revelation 12:10–12)

Eve’s downfall came because she listened to what the devil in the garden told her. He appealed to her sense of self and suggested God didn’t really love her. He does the same to me, and when circumstances seem to back him up and my thoughts go there instead of to the promises and character of God, I fall into a pit of discouragement — but not for long as God reminds me again who I am and that I belong. Today He reminds me that the wrath I deserve has been put on my tormentor who wants to walk all over me. The Liar is defeated — by the blood of Christ, by my declaration of faith, and by no fear of death. And get this, he is coming at me, and at the people of God in great fury “because he knows that his time is short.” 

In the mind of God, ‘short’ could mean soon or a thousand years. No matter. The Liar knows that Jesus wins and just those two words erase his accusations and replace them with a hallelujah!

Jesus, just forgetting truth for a moment is awful and the perfectionist in me thinks it is a terrible sin. As I confess my frailties, You are right here to encourage with just the right words for a rebuttal to his lies and nastiness. He can appeal to my human selfishness, hit me where I am weak, twist my emotions with many unexpected events, and side-track me with nonsense, but he cannot defeat You or the blood that You shed for me, or the faith that You planted in my heart. He is also powerless against all fear. For You did not give me a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control. (2 Timothy 1:7). May Your Spirit continually remind me that “Jesus wins.”

 
 

Be Like Jesus?

The Lord God has given me the tongue of those who are taught, that I may know how to sustain with a word him who is weary. Morning by morning he awakens; he awakens my ear to hear as those who are taught. The Lord God has opened my ear, and I was not rebellious; I turned not backward. I gave my back to those who strike, and my cheeks to those who pull out the beard; I hid not my face from disgrace and spitting. But the Lord God helps me; therefore I have not been disgraced; therefore I have set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be put to shame. He who vindicates me is near. Who will contend with me? Let us stand up together. Who is my adversary? Let him come near to me. Behold, the Lord God helps me; who will declare me guilty? Behold, all of them will wear out like a garment; the moth will eat them up. Who among you fears the Lord and obeys the voice of his servant? Let him who walks in darkness and has no light trust in the name of the Lord and rely on his God. (Isaiah 50:4–10)

While the prophet may have experienced what he describes, many of these words describe events in the life of the Lord Jesus Christ. They also describe His attitude.

I’ve been thinking much about what it means to be like Jesus. The first thing is that Jesus came to us fully human and lived relying on the power of the Holy Spirit just as we are supposed to live. He did it perfectly…

So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. (Philippians 2:1–8)

This servant heart included the humility to be taught. So Jesus said to them, “When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am he, and that I do nothing on my own authority, but speak just as the Father taught me.” (John 8:28)

I’m awed by this. God the Son didn’t consider Himself a know-it-all or even having any authority to speak unless the Father gave Him something to say. Because this is true, who am I to think I can blurt out whatever comes to mind? Being like Jesus means listening to the voice of the One who created me and it certainly means yielding all my thoughts and ideas to  Him. It also means total obedience.

Jesus, You know my heart. I can be selfish, wanting to do my stuff rather than listen and obey. Thinking this way seems impossible. Even as a redeemed person who wants to be like Jesus, I know that I cannot do it or even choose it apart from You and the power of the Holy Spirit.

False confidence?

Now therefore hear this, you lover of pleasures, who sit securely, who say in your heart, “I am, and there is no one besides me; I shall not sit as a widow or know the loss of children”: These two things shall come to you in a moment, in one day; the loss of children and widowhood shall come upon you in full measure, in spite of your many sorceries and the great power of your enchantments. You felt secure in your wickedness; you said, “No one sees me”; your wisdom and your knowledge led you astray, and you said in your heart, “I am, and there is no one besides me.” But evil shall come upon you, which you will not know how to charm away; disaster shall fall upon you, for which you will not be able to atone; and ruin shall come upon you suddenly, of which you know nothing. Stand fast in your enchantments and your many sorceries, with which you have labored from your youth; perhaps you may be able to succeed; perhaps you may inspire terror. You are wearied with your many counsels; let them stand forth and save you, those who divide the heavens, who gaze at the stars, who at the new moons make known what shall come upon you. Behold, they are like stubble; the fire consumes them; they cannot deliver themselves from the power of the flame. No coal for warming oneself is this, no fire to sit before! Such to you are those with whom you have labored, who have done business with you from your youth; they wander about, each in his own direction; there is no one to save you. (Isaiah 47:8–15)

A television series featured one character that had the attitude that no matter what happened, it would turn out fine. One of my friends is like that too. Neither one trusts God for ‘fine’ even though this positive attitude seems to be working for them, at least some of the time.

A pessimist might argue. The dictionary calls this person a prophet of doom. In a recent study of optimism, neuroscientists found an interesting principle: optimists shared similar patterns of activity in a key brain region when they imagined future events, but each pessimist’s brain patterns was unique. 

They were looking for the difference because optimism is associated with better physical, mental and social health. But the above Scripture adds another factor — an optimistic attitude also needs to be based on reality. In the OT audience that Isaiah was speaking to, the people wanted a positive future, but because of their sin, it was not going to happen. Their optimism was based on a strong ‘I want’ rather than on the will of God. The reality is that fighting with God and winning is not likely, no matter how positive I feel about the outcome.

I’m reminded of that book about the power of positive thinking. My dad was hooked until I said, “No matter how positive I think, I can never be an opera singer.” That burst his bubble. He knew how I sounded. 

The fans rooting for their hockey team in the NHL playoffs hold up signs saying “BELIEVE” as if their confidence will make winners out of the team, but that does not work either. Confidence in me and my plans seems right, but it does come with a warning:

Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”— yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. (James 4:13–16)

Some of us are not optimistic, meaning me. I’m more apt to think that I can’t do something. For this, James adds: “So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.” (James 4:17)

Jesus, You are very good with attitudes and guidance as long as I’m trusting You and not myself or my feelings both negative and positive. Trusting myself never works out and how wonderful that You care and want me to do the right thing — and will let me know what that is. All I have to do is listen to You instead of my own thoughts and emotions.

OT and NT redemption are the same…

“Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old. Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert. The wild beasts will honor me, the jackals and the ostriches, for I give water in the wilderness, rivers in the desert, to give drink to my chosen people, the people whom I formed for myself that they might declare my praise. “Yet you did not call upon me, O Jacob; but you have been weary of me, O Israel! You have not brought me your sheep for burnt offerings, or honored me with your sacrifices. I have not burdened you with offerings, or wearied you with frankincense. You have not bought me sweet cane with money, or satisfied me with the fat of your sacrifices. But you have burdened me with your sins; you have wearied me with your iniquities. 
“I, I am he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake, and I will not remember your sins. Put me in remembrance; let us argue together; set forth your case, that you may be proved right. Your first father sinned, and your mediators transgressed against me. Therefore I will profane the princes of the sanctuary, and deliver Jacob to utter destruction and Israel to reviling.
“But now hear, O Jacob my servant, Israel whom I have chosen! Thus says the Lord who made you, who formed you from the womb and will help you: Fear not, O Jacob my servant, Jeshurun whom I have chosen. For I will pour water on the thirsty land, and streams on the dry ground; I will pour my Spirit upon your offspring, and my blessing on your descendants. They shall spring up among the grass like willows by flowing streams. This one will say, ‘I am the Lord’s,’ another will call on the name of Jacob, and another will write on his hand, ‘The Lord’s,’ and name himself by the name of Israel.” (Isaiah 43:18–44:5)

One problem with spending much time in the OT is that the rebukes to God’s people back then often distract me from the new thing God has done in redeeming believers by grace through faith. Not that this makes me think that God is still looking for obedience as a means of salvation, or that He ever did, but that if I do not obey, the consequences will make me respond to trials as if God is using them to punish me.

If I slip into that thinking, discouragement sets in. It seems like God is looking for obedience as a means of salvation by faith rather than evidence of it. Of course that appeals to human pride, but then there are days when that mountain I try to climb is way too high. This makes all those ‘therefore’ passages repeated in an era when God was using unpleasant consequences to illustrate that the relationship His people had with Him was missing faith in Him and His power. 

Today, since Jesus came, He uses trials to test and build faith. All the punishment I deserve was taken by Christ. Instead of the ‘therefore’ I need to focus on the “but now” and the “I will make a way” which are both true because of His grace and mercy to me.

Actually, salvation in the OT was like that also. God promised a Redeemer and His people were to live by that promise, believing He would keep it, and waiting for it in godly living rather than giving in to their old fears and doing what was right in their own eyes. Salvation has always been by faith. Right living is the evidence of it.

Since Jesus came, we are saved by faith, not by works but demonstrated by works in obedience. Same as the OT. 

Now I’m realizing how easily others separate the two testaments as they do. These ‘therefore’ passages are false accusations in a sense, yet they make me feel like jumping from Isaiah to Matthew. I need to remember that the OT points to Jesus, even in those ‘therefore’ rebukes.

Jesus, keep Yourself continually in my mind so my thinking is all about grace and not about anything else but You and Your promises. You will pour water into my thirsty life, and streams into my barren life. You will pour Your Spirit upon my children and descendants so they too will confess You as Lord and call on Your Name — even call themselves Your children. Keep me from getting caught up in anything else but You, Your will, and Your power to keep such promises as these and even more.  You say my offspring shall spring up among the grass like willows by flowing streams. This one will say, ‘I am the Lord’s,’ another will call on the name of Jacob, and another will write on his hand, ‘The Lord’s,’ and name himself by the name of Israel.” That happens because of Your grace and goodness.

When threatened…

Then the Rabshakeh stood and called out in a loud voice in the language of Judah: “Hear the words of the great king, the king of Assyria! Thus says the king: ‘Do not let Hezekiah deceive you, for he will not be able to deliver you. Do not let Hezekiah make you trust in the Lord by saying, “The Lord will surely deliver us. This city will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.” Do not listen to Hezekiah. For thus says the king of Assyria: Make your peace with me and come out to me. Then each one of you will eat of his own vine, and each one of his own fig tree, and each one of you will drink the water of his own cistern, until I come and take you away to a land like your own land, a land of grain and wine, a land of bread and vineyards. Beware lest Hezekiah mislead you by saying, “The Lord will deliver us.” Has any of the gods of the nations delivered his land out of the hand of the king of Assyria? (Isaiah 36:13–18)

While this passage sounds like today’s political ramps and promises, it also sounds like the junk that my spiritual enemy, the Liar, tosses at me. Don’t trust the Lord. Trust yourself and you will prosper. Blah. Blah. Blah.

King Hezekiah was not so easily thrown into a panic at this threat nor interested in the false promises of this enemy. He “tore his clothes and covered himself with sackcloth and went into the house of the Lord.” Then he called on other spiritual leaders and said: 

“This day is a day of distress, of rebuke, and of disgrace; children have come to the point of birth, and there is no strength to bring them forth. It may be that the Lord your God will hear the words of the Rabshakeh, whom his master the king of Assyria has sent to mock the living God, and will rebuke the words that the Lord your God has heard; therefore lift up your prayer for the remnant that is left.’ ” (Isaiah 37:1–4)

Isaiah also sent a message to this king: “Thus says the Lord: Do not be afraid because of the words that you have heard, with which the young men of the king of Assyria have reviled me. Behold, I will put a spirit in him, so that he shall hear a rumor and return to his own land, and I will make him fall by the sword in his own land.’ ” (Isaiah 37:5–7) Hezekiah then prayed:

“O Lord of hosts, God of Israel, enthroned above the cherubim, you are the God, you alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth; you have made the heavens and the earth. Incline your ear, O Lord, and hear; open your eyes, O Lord, and see; and hear all the words of Sennacherib, which he has sent to mock the living God. Truly, O Lord, the kings of Assyria have laid waste all the nations and their lands, and have cast their gods into the fire. For they were no gods, but the work of men’s hands, wood and stone. Therefore they were destroyed. So now, O Lord our God, save us from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you alone are the Lord.” (Isaiah 37:14–20)

God responded to the threatening king: “I know your sitting down and your going out and coming in, and your raging against me. Because you have raged against me and your complacency has come to my ears, I will put my hook in your nose and my bit in your mouth, and I will turn you back on the way by which you came. . . . . For I will defend this city to save it, for my own sake and for the sake of my servant David.” And the angel of the Lord went out and struck down 185,000 in the camp of the Assyrians. And when people arose early in the morning, behold, these were all dead bodies. Then Sennacherib king of Assyria returned home and as he was worshiping in the house of his god, his sons killed him. (Isaiah 37:28–38)

Jesus, this encourages me. I’ve had similar lies threaten me, lies against God and causing me a struggle to pray in faith that He will rescue me and those I pray for. I need the courage and trust of Hezekiah, realizing the lies, but also having wisdom to know how to encourage others who fall for the same threats.

 

Test #2

 Writing directly in an I-pad could be stressful! But easier than lugging my laptop on holidays.

His strength is perfected in our weakness:

Egypt’s help is worthless and empty; therefore I have called her “Rahab who sits still.” And now, go, write it before them on a tablet and inscribe it in a book, that it may be for the time to come as a witness forever. For they are a rebellious people, lying children, children unwilling to hear the instruction of the Lord; who say to the seers, “Do not see,” and to the prophets, “Do not prophesy to us what is right; speak to us smooth things, prophesy illusions, leave the way, turn aside from the path, let us hear no more about the Holy One of Israel.” Therefore thus says the Holy One of Israel, “Because you despise this word and trust in oppression and perverseness and rely on them, therefore this iniquity shall be to you like a breach in a high wall, bulging out and about to collapse, whose breaking comes suddenly, in an instant; and its breaking is like that of a potter’s vessel that is smashed so ruthlessly that among its fragments not a shard is found with which to take fire from the hearth, or to dip up water out of the cistern.” For thus said the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel, “In returning and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and in trust shall be your strength.” But you were unwilling, and you said, “No! We will flee upon horses”; therefore you shall flee away; and, “We will ride upon swift steeds”; therefore your pursuers shall be swift. A thousand shall flee at the threat of one; at the threat of five you shall flee, till you are left like a flagstaff on the top of a mountain, like a signal on a hill. Therefore the Lord waits to be gracious to you, and therefore he exalts himself to show mercy to you. 

Egypt represents my old life of bondage, and like the grass seems greener there, the people of God can be lured into thinking that living that way is better than living for the Lord. It may be easier, but not better. When I drift into a fleshy way, God truly exalts Himself by showing mercy to me. My task ought to be:

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9)

He convicts me of my error, forgives when I confess, and cleans up my thinking and actions. He uses even my sins in His redemptive process. The above passage adds more wonders such as:

For the Lord is a God of justice; blessed are all those who wait for him. For a people shall dwell in Zion, in Jerusalem; you shall weep no more. He will surely be gracious to you at the sound of your cry. As soon as he hears it, he answers you. And though the Lord give you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, yet your Teacher will not hide himself anymore, but your eyes shall see your Teacher. And your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, “This is the way, walk in it,” when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left. 

As I get rid of sin and all idols, He blesses my productivity, binds up my brokenness and heals the  wounds inflicted by His blows. He gives me songs in the night, and I can hear His voice with a glad heart even as my spiritual enemies hear His fury. (Isaiah 30:7–31:3)

Jesus, I am so aware that relying on the way I thought and lived before You rescued me brings sorrow. Trusting my ways and not consulting You is foolish. You are wise and work against all who do evil. That old life is mere human without the power of the Holy Spirit and in it I stumble and suffer loss. Keep me always in Your will. Fill me each day with Your mercy and grace that I will live as You lead me and enable me to rejoice in You.

Another surprise…

And the Lord said: “Because this people draw near with their mouth and honor me with their lips, while their hearts are far from me, and their fear of me is a commandment taught by men, therefore, behold, I will again do wonderful things with this people, with wonder upon wonder; and the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the discernment of their discerning men shall be hidden.” Ah, you who hide deep from the Lord your counsel, whose deeds are in the dark, and who say, “Who sees us? Who knows us?” You turn things upside down! Shall the potter be regarded as the clay, that the thing made should say of its maker, “He did not make me”; or the thing formed say of him who formed it, “He has no understanding”? (Isaiah 29:13–16)

The problem of a high IQ is thinking that they know all they need to know and even thinking that their knowledge and plans are hidden from God. As one commentator says, trying to conceal their thoughts from God indicates that they know that their thoughts and plans are sinful, yet as the psalmist writes: “How can God know? Is there knowledge in the Most High?” (Psalm 73:11). 

Sometimes I wonder about those who are so set against God that they are certain of their plans and their destiny and certain God knows nothing about them nor cares. However, the psalmist later says: 

But when I thought how to understand this, it seemed to me a wearisome task, until I went into the sanctuary of God; then I discerned their end. Truly you set them in slippery places; you make them fall to ruin. How they are destroyed in a moment, swept away utterly by terrors! Like a dream when one awakes, O Lord, when you rouse yourself, you despise them as phantoms. When my soul was embittered, when I was pricked in heart, I was brutish and ignorant; I was like a beast toward you. Nevertheless, I am continually with you; you hold my right hand. You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will receive me to glory. Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. (Psalm 73:16–26)

He knows all hearts and can do anything He pleases. When I am upset at the hard hearts around me, He can soften and remind anyone who He is. No one is exempt from His power to reach into that stubborn place and gently change it.

Jesus, discouragement comes easy to my eyes, but You are able to encourage my heart by faith in what I cannot see. Someday You will answer the cries of my heart. In the meantime, keep my focus on Your promises and Your power lest I lose hope and take those ‘wise’ people off my prayer list.

Using lies to cover lies?

Because you have said, “We have made a covenant with death, and with Sheol we have an agreement, when the overwhelming whip passes through it will not come to us, for we have made lies our refuge, and in falsehood we have taken shelter”; therefore thus says the Lord God, “Behold, I am the one who has laid as a foundation in Zion, a stone, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone, of a sure foundation: ‘Whoever believes will not be in haste.’ And I will make justice the line, and righteousness the plumb line; and hail will sweep away the refuge of lies, and waters will overwhelm the shelter.” Then your covenant with death will be annulled, and your agreement with Sheol will not stand; when the overwhelming scourge passes through, you will be beaten down by it. As often as it passes through it will take you; for morning by morning it will pass through, by day and by night; and it will be sheer terror to understand the message. (Isaiah 28:15–19)

The one thing that I cannot bear is lies. If a person lies to me, I usually cut them off. In my mind, the relationship cannot be anything more than superficial or artificial. Trust is broken and without a restoration of reliability, I tend to want proof before believing anything that person says. 

This sounds cruel and a lack of love for the NT says: “Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.” However, it also describes love as “not insisting on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth.” (1 Corinthians 13:5–7)

Another verse says, “By no means! Let God be true though every one were a liar” (Romans 3:4) and Jesus called religious unbelievers ‘liars’ in John 8:44. Does everyone lie except God?
 
It is plain that trusting God makes sense. It also makes sense that in many matters of life, I can evaluate trust by comparing what people say and do with what God says and does. Those who can admit lying may be justified in their words, and “prevail when judged.” This is the value of confessing sin. If a person can do that, they seem far more likely to be honest about most things. But if the lie is covered by another lie, this is a red flag, a warning to be cautious with my trust.

It is folly to lie to God. He knows my thoughts and my heart, even the words I will say before I say them. His foundation is Jesus Christ and every person will be tested alongside this sinless cornerstone. Apart from faith in Him, in His death and resurrection, who can pass that test? 

As the Word says, hating lies is a godly attitude, but hating people is not. The only way I can manage that is to pray for those who lie and ask God to deal with them in such a way that the reasons for those lies, such as fear, false ambition, self-protection, etc., fall away. Liars need to know that they are perfectly loved regardless of their performance.

There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love. We love because he first loved us. If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother. (1 John 4:18–21)

My attitude toward those who lie is an attitude of fear also, of not trusting God to deal with them, and not being willing to be like Jesus who died for those who sin, including the sin of lying. I know these things, yet sometimes let my own fears allow the flesh to deal with liars instead of trusting the Spirit of God.

Jesus, this has been a difficult couple of days, yet I know Your heart of exposing my lack of obedience is an act of love. You want me to be like You — and that is the most loving motivation of all. So is Your power to change my heart. Keep my focus stayed on You, not on the pain of being lied to, or on using anger to deal with the pain. Your response is the only way: Father, forgive them for they don’t know what they are doing… 

Wait for Him

For thus said the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel, “In returning and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and in trust shall be your strength.” But you were unwilling, and you said, “No! We will flee upon horses”; therefore you shall flee away; and, “We will ride upon swift steeds”; therefore your pursuers shall be swift. A thousand shall flee at the threat of one; at the threat of five you shall flee, till you are left like a flagstaff on the top of a mountain, like a signal on a hill. Therefore the Lord waits to be gracious to you, and therefore he exalts himself to show mercy to you. For the Lord is a God of justice; blessed are all those who wait for him. (Isaiah 30:15–18)

I’d set my online Bible so that the word “therefore” was highlighted in all 700 plus places that it occurs. Then, for reasons unknown, that highlighting vanished and I have not been able to restore it. 

However, I’m a bottom-line person and began to wonder what God is trying to teach me. It didn’t take long for His Spirit to put this thought in my head: far too often I’ve begun applying the truths in those ‘therefore’ passages to the frustrating people  I know instead of to my own life. It is easy to tell others what God says, but much more difficult to do it myself.

The bit about horses refers to using my own strengths — and I know that I have none. Horses don’t turn my weaknesses into strength. Neither does anger solve this problem. This is a God-problem that only He can fix.

I’ve not gone so far as to think ‘holier than thou’ but that could be deception for I am letting the disobedience of one person upset and even anger me. If that anger is because God is defamed, it might be justified, but most of the time I’m angry because I don’t see any regard for Him at all which translates to no regard for me either as I try to honor Him.

Jesus, I need more input from You. Isaiah says you wait to be gracious to me as I wait for justice from You. I’m not sure how that will work but need to keep my focus on You and not let the faithlessness of someone else be my problem. You are the only One who can change hearts — including mine.

When God judges the world…

There is an outcry in the streets for lack of wine; all joy has grown dark; the gladness of the earth is banished. Desolation is left in the city; the gates are battered into ruins. For thus it shall be in the midst of the earth among the nations, as when an olive tree is beaten, as at the gleaning when the grape harvest is done. They lift up their voices, they sing for joy; over the majesty of the Lord they shout from the west. Therefore in the east give glory to the Lord; in the coastlands of the sea, give glory to the name of the Lord, the God of Israel. From the ends of the earth we hear songs of praise, of glory to the Righteous One. But I say, “I waste away, I waste away. Woe is me! For the traitors have betrayed, with betrayal the traitors have betrayed.” Terror and the pit and the snare are upon you, O inhabitant of the earth! He who flees at the sound of the terror shall fall into the pit, and he who climbs out of the pit shall be caught in the snare. For the windows of heaven are opened, and the foundations of the earth tremble. The earth is utterly broken, the earth is split apart, the earth is violently shaken. The earth staggers like a drunken man; it sways like a hut; its transgression lies heavy upon it, and it falls, and will not rise again. On that day the Lord will punish the host of heaven, in heaven, and the kings of the earth, on the earth. They will be gathered together as prisoners in a pit; they will be shut up in a prison, and after many days they will be punished. Then the moon will be confounded and the sun ashamed, for the Lord of hosts reigns on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, and his glory will be before his elders. (Isaiah 24:11–23)

A book in the nearby library is written by an ‘expert’ outlining how to make it through the tough times that are coming upon us. I’ve not read it, only the jacket cover, but this author speaks of investing and other strategies to combat inflation. There seems to be no mention of the emotional strain people experience over increasing atrocities.

The above passage from Isaiah could be describing the brokenness in the universe, not just in economic matters, far worse that what that author thinks will need fixing. It seems a prophetic description of what will occur just before the Lord brings judgment. However, the fascinating part is this section:

They lift up their voices, they sing for joy; over the majesty of the Lord they shout from the west. Therefore in the east give glory to the Lord; in the coastlands of the sea, give glory to the name of the Lord, the God of Israel. From the ends of the earth we hear songs of praise, of glory to the Righteous One. . . .” (Isaiah 24:14–16)

Those who did not stray from their covenant with Him will be anticipating this event, wanting justice in a messed up world. When it happens, joy will fill their hearts and God will be praised. 

Reading the news and seeing the progress of evil makes joy and praise look impossible yet those who know the grace of God also know the power of His Spirit to bring peace to our hearts. He says to His people:

You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you. (Isaiah 26:3)
O Lord, you will ordain peace for us, for you have indeed done for us all our works. O Lord our God, other lords besides you have ruled over us, but your name alone we bring to remembrance. (Isaiah 26:12–13)
Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:5–7)

Those who trust God know that peace. It isn’t about all being right in the world, but about knowing Him, His goodness and His protection. I am safe in the hands of God. He knows how to judge sinful people but because His NT Lamb died for my sins, I am not condemned with them, but at peace.

Jesus, salvation is like this promise of judgment in that it will happen, yet not to those who know You. Instead of getting what sin deserves, faith in Your death and resurrection grants me eternal life and deep inner peace. For that, I rejoice and praise You — no matter what is making headlines or who is frantically trying to avoid the judgment that You promise will happen.

 

God's remedy for bad news

Behold, the Lord will empty the earth and make it desolate, and he will twist its surface and scatter its inhabitants. And it shall be, as with the people, so with the priest; as with the slave, so with his master; as with the maid, so with her mistress; as with the buyer, so with the seller; as with the lender, so with the borrower; as with the creditor, so with the debtor. The earth shall be utterly empty and utterly plundered; for the Lord has spoken this word. The earth mourns and withers; the world languishes and withers; the highest people of the earth languish. The earth lies defiled under its inhabitants; for they have transgressed the laws, violated the statutes, broken the everlasting covenant. Therefore a curse devours the earth, and its inhabitants suffer for their guilt; therefore the inhabitants of the earth are scorched, and few men are left. (Isaiah 24:1–6)

This reads too much like this morning’s newspaper. All bad news. Much confusion in every part. No mention of hope or trusting God. Some exhortation for human powers  to fix it, but all efforts fail and most of them get a low approval rating. Are we suffering as did the ancients because we are guilty of transgressing the laws of God and His covenant with us has been broken?

Some see good things, progress. Some see only selfishness and hidden motivations. The media promotes their bias. Podcasts and opposing political opinions add to the confusion. AI makes many wonder if truth can be found, or is all of it imagined or it just adds to the deceptions on the minds of the masses? Scams are robbing funds from those who are in the habit of believing everything they hear. How can anyone trust their bank when they send someone to pick up a ‘faulty credit card’ and rob that person of thousands? We are living in a world gone haywire.

The Bible indicates that all falls apart when we trust ourselves and not God. Personally, I know that is true. The Bible teaches me, but so does experience and my own lack of obedience. The above passage says this applies to everyone. It isn’t just for ‘religious’ people or those without thought for God. 

Spiritual truth is outside of opinions and human choices. We can make our choices,  but we cannot choose the consequences. This passage goes on to describe some of them. As my farming dad used to say, “I plant the seeds but God makes them grow” — or not. Without His blessing, our needs and joys go by the wayside.

Jesus, I know that every breath I take is in Your power. You can give me peace and joy. My actions and attitude can ruin my life, but if I am loving and serving You, Your  peace and joy remain, even when the headlines spell doom for the rest of the world. I want people to know that. Yet trusting You isn’t primarily about You changing circumstances, or even about You making our work profitable. It is about You granting peace and contentment no matter what is happening. For this, I am blessed.

Desiring God's Best?

All your leaders have fled together; without the bow they were captured. All of you who were found were captured, though they had fled far away. Therefore I said: “Look away from me; let me weep bitter tears; do not labor to comfort me concerning the destruction of the daughter of my people.” For the Lord God of hosts has a day of tumult and trampling and confusion in the valley of vision, a battering down of walls and a shouting to the mountains. (Isaiah 22:3–5)

I have been criticized for being concerned about the downfall of church leaders, or the sinfulness in Christians that I know. More than one person has told me that those things are not my problem, or given other reasons to ‘mind my own business.’ While I agree that it is possible to complain or gossip about others and forget that they are God's responsibility and not mine, it is also possible to be His spokesperson to address sin in His people, not to others but to those needing it.

The words of the OT prophets express their love for God and for His people. He wants holiness and when they strayed into sin and idolatry, the Lord did not pat them on the head and look the other way. At the same time, I’m not to have or even think a ‘holier than thou’ attitude about myself. So what options are okay?

The entire Bible tells me to love God and honor Him, and to love His people who are my neighbors as myself. This love most certainly includes empathy for any harsh discipline they are experiencing. Isaiah specifically tells his critics to leave him alone and not try to make him feel better about the harsh discipline of God in the lives of others.

But his tears are not pity or sympathy as if that discipline should not be happening. I know that tears can be shed that this discipline is necessary. We have a God who gives us fullness of life and all that we need to live for Him in peace and joy, and yet we do things our way and fall into sin? This is like being in a banqueting room and starving to death. He offers everything we need and we complain and feel poor and mistreated? He offers love, peace, joy, goodness, self-control and all godliness — and we gossip, worry, complain, and live in the opposites of what He wants — without realizing that what we crave could be so easily ours? Not to glorify ourselves, but to bring glory to Him.

This is why prophets weep. I don’t consider myself a prophet, but I understand that too many of God's children live as if He is not all we need and are not happy with that, yet refuse His will so we can live our own way. How sad indeed.

Jesus, my pastor is praying for revival. I am praying for revival. Each day You show me how much I need it, and I am willing to change and to fully obey You. Pour out Your power. Help me have the attitudes You want me to have for those who are suffering under discipline. I know You are concerned about their sin and self-effort. May none of us ask You to give us what we crave but then refuse to give up those things that keep it from happening.

 

Who can know what God will do?

 

Wail, for the day of the Lord is near; as destruction from the Almighty it will come! Therefore all hands will be feeble, and every human heart will melt. They will be dismayed: pangs and agony will seize them; they will be in anguish like a woman in labor. They will look aghast at one another; their faces will be aflame. Behold, the day of the Lord comes, cruel, with wrath and fierce anger, to make the land a desolation and to destroy its sinners from it. For the stars of the heavens and their constellations will not give their light; the sun will be dark at its rising, and the moon will not shed its light. I will punish the world for its evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; I will put an end to the pomp of the arrogant, and lay low the pompous pride of the ruthless. I will make people more rare than fine gold, and mankind than the gold of Ophir. Therefore I will make the heavens tremble, and the earth will be shaken out of its place, at the wrath of the Lord of hosts in the day of his fierce anger. And like a hunted gazelle, or like sheep with none to gather them, each will turn to his own people, and each will flee to his own land. Whoever is found will be thrust through, and whoever is caught will fall by the sword. Their infants will be dashed in pieces before their eyes; their houses will be plundered and their wives ravished. (Isaiah 13:6–16)

Prophecy in the OT is not easy to understand. Historians often figure them out by their fulfillment. The average reader will see glimpses of how God worked to draw His people away from their sinful disobedience back into line with His will. In this passage, the prophet was able to note the following ways of God's working:

The Lord summoned mighty people to minister His anger. They were not willingly or knowingly yielded to Him, but came from a far land to destroy those disobedient to Him. This shocked His people and their land became desolate. His people were feeble in their dismay as God puts an end to their arrogance and pride. Even the earth and heavens tremble as the people become homeless and without leaders. Many die as homes are plundered and families broken with their enemies having no pity for even little children.

This very general summary could be said of much that happens even today when His people live in worldly sin. While we are oblivious to how God uses evil people for good in the lives of His children, His actions at the time do not seem to be good. However, it is through spiritual and physical trials that He builds maturity and Christ-like character. We cannot grow in patience without trials just as the OT people of God would not return to faith in Him without harsh circumstances and realizing how helpless they were without Him.

Jesus, I am glad Your remedies to correct sin in our lives (sin that we do after salvation) is less harsh than it was centuries ago, but sad that we still fall into disobedience just like they did. You are always the gracious Savior that died for each sin. I’m also glad that once I agree with You about what I’ve done, You are faithful to cleanse it from me and restore my joy! 

Faith is in Him, not in my requests…

Again the Lord spoke to Ahaz: “Ask a sign of the Lord your God; let it be deep as Sheol or high as heaven.” But Ahaz said, “I will not ask, and I will not put the Lord to the test.” And he said, “Hear then, O house of David! Is it too little for you to weary men, that you weary my God also? Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. (Isaiah 7:10–14)

This passage goes on and is for a specific situation, but God's Spirit stopped me here to remind me that when I pray, my motivation is that God can do anything. His power is not me putting Him to the test, as if to say, “If You can…” nor even if He will. I can ask because of a sense of need, but faith trusts Him to do what is best, not a test to see if He cares or if He can. Both are assumed, yet not in relation to my request. I pray because I trust Him to listen and do what is best for me and for the situation.

One person on my prayer list cries out for healing. Do I know that her pain is going to draw her closer to Jesus? If it is, and God did what I asked, could it be interfering with His plan? Perhaps a “no” or a “wait” answer is to build my patience, never mind hers. Do I really know the will of God or how to pray?

Ahaz may have often prayed to test God. If he refused to do that but also refused to pray at all, then God was teaching this man a thing or two about his own sinfulness and wanting him to see that his motivations were off kilter.

Last week I did something that looked good on the surface. However, I used it to ask this: “Did I ask this because I cared about the other person? Or did I do it for my own benefit?” I knew right away that I can easily do right things with wrong motives, and when God looks at what I do, He considers both deeds and motives:

“I the Lord search the heart and test the mind, to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds.” (Jeremiah 17:10)
“. . . . And all the churches will know that I am he who searches mind and heart, and I will give to each of you according to your works.” (Revelation 2:23)

This is why the NT speaks of the Bema judgment of Christians and says some of what we do is merely useless, even if if wasn’t considered sinful.

For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw— each one’s work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. If anyone’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire. (1 Corinthians 3:11–15)

I’m aware that my motivation is important, for it does not fit with what Jesus said about prayer: “May Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” That is, praying what I want and do should match what He wants or it will not pass the ‘wood, hay, straw’ test of fire. This sort of sin will not rob me of the free gift of eternal life in Christ, but I will suffer loss.

Lord Jesus, one way I know when I’m in error is that the fruit of the Spirit vanishes when I’m doing or even selfishly. Without that fruit of love, joy, peace, and other spiritual attitudes that come only from You. If I’m upset, worried, unhappy, or mean — even in my thoughts, I’m filled with me and not walking in the Spirit. Thank you for clearly warning me when flesh moves in and I need to confess and ask You to again fill me and change my heart. Your words to Ahaz tell me that the sign always given is that You came. You are “God with me” — my Immanuel — and You are all that I need.

Don’t ruin the soup…

Your princes are rebels and companions of thieves. Everyone loves a bribe and runs after gifts. They do not bring justice to the fatherless, and the widow’s cause does not come to them. Therefore the Lord declares, the Lord of hosts, the Mighty One of Israel: “Ah, I will get relief from my enemies and avenge myself on my foes. I will turn my hand against you and will smelt away your dross as with lye and remove all your alloy. And I will restore your judges as at the first, and your counselors as at the beginning. Afterward you shall be called the city of righteousness, the faithful city. (Isaiah 1:23–26)

The psalmist describes the leadership of God's people as corrupt, doing things that make the needy totally unwilling to come to them. Widows and orphans know that they will not get relief so why bother?

God speaks to this by promising to remove that which has corrupted them and restore their righteousness so that these faithless people will be as they once were.

In our modern times, this activity by God would be called a revival, a restoration to the changes He had done earlier. The sad part is that even today, God's people backslide. Life becomes comfortable, and although Christians grow in trials, our prayers are often “remove the trial” rather than asking Him to use it and make us more like Jesus.

This week I made chicken soup from one earlier roasted bird. After a few hours in a slow-cooker, the broth was strained and any pieces of meat added to it. Then it went into the fridge overnight. Why? So the fat would float to the top and be skimmed off. ln my thinking, all that fat would ruin the soup.

In God's thinking, any injustice and unrighteous ruins His people. He therefore said He would turn His hand against them and remove the problem. In other words, He would bring trials, not to punish but to revive:

Woe to those who are heroes at drinking wine, and valiant men in mixing strong drink, who acquit the guilty for a bribe, and deprive the innocent of his right! Therefore, as the tongue of fire devours the stubble, and as dry grass sinks down in the flame, so their root will be as rottenness, and their blossom go up like dust; for they have rejected the law of the Lord of hosts, and have despised the word of the Holy One of Israel. Therefore the anger of the Lord was kindled against his people, and he stretched out his hand against them and struck them, and the mountains quaked; and their corpses were as refuse in the midst of the streets. For all this his anger has not turned away, and his hand is stretched out still. (Isaiah 5:22–25)

Yet even today, along with the trials comes grumbling and pleading to make them stop, to restore our comfort. We want godly leaders but not the work of God to make them godly. We may want godliness for ourselves, but not the trials that produce spiritual maturity.

Oh God, I see the need for revival, not because our leaders are unjust or sinful in ruinous ways, but because too many of Your people are more interested in seven-day Sabbaths than doing what work that God tells us we should be doing. Oblivious? Some are. Some make excuses. All need skimming off the dross. All need to keep short accounts and forgiveness and renewal. Me too.

The deepest, purest love…

Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth! For your love is better than wine; your anointing oils are fragrant; your name is oil poured out; therefore virgins love you. Draw me after you; let us run. The king has brought me into his chambers. We will exult and rejoice in you; we will extol your love more than wine; rightly do they love you. (Song of Solomon 1:2–4)

While the debates continue, this book of the OT endures as part of God's Word to His people. Whatever He intends, it seems obvious that this describes the love relationship of the Lord Jesus Christ to His people by comparing it to human love and intimacy. It is not for those who take their faith as mere personal belief, but as a close relationship like that of lovers.

“Therefore virgins love you” suggest this is about ‘one and only’ love. There is nothing or no one else so important and vital to the life of those beloved by Him. He brings us close to Him and gives us every reason to have a deep response to Him. This attitude goes beyond that ‘honeymoon’ phase that is soon challenged by trials and doubts. Jesus is the preoccupation of a loved one’s heart.

One Christian course has the line; “He grows sweeter and sweeter as the days go by” suggesting that not only faith increases through testing and hardship, but so does affection. At my age, it reminds me of the emotions of trust and joy that go with loving and being loved by my spouse. It takes time to become deep, solid, and at the same time comfortable and accepting, without selfish demands and without room for doubt and suspicions.

When I think how much God loves me in these terms, I sometimes find my mind dancing with Jesus in a field of flowers, laughing in the purest of joy. Not often. Life can be not only distracting but seem cruel with all sorts of events and issues that try to convince me that I’m alone, defeated, not loved at all — but He isn’t like that and pulls me back, sometimes with little hints and clues, and sometimes with gifts of great surprise. And my heart is blessed.

Lord Jesus, it is right to love You and to be loved by You. In this world gone wrong, Your love is the anchor, the stronghold in the storms of uncertainty and unkind people who whine about being loveless without realizing that Your great love is the only reason they are allowed to live and breathe. Deepen this in our relationship. And enable me to share it with the host of love-starved people around me.