One of the crucial aspects of the book of Isaiah is Israel's sin, idolatry and their complete disregard for who God is. They ran from God to other things that seemed to be of redeeming value. Yet, after a time Israel began to realize that their choices had put God at arm's length. They did not explicitly renounce who God was, they just valued everything else above Him. The sad reality is that the U.S. has adopted this same mindset. Where we were once a nation that sought to glorify God above all else, we have become a nation that seeks to glorify self above all else. We have belittled God and His Power in our own mind and we have an over-exaggerated view of ourselves. Our endeavors center around MY stuff, MY bank account, MY image, MY happiness, and MY job. We our so centered on MY needs and wants and look past HIS commandments and calling. I have separated myself from God by my own choice. God has not abandoned this nation...we have abandoned Him. Look in Isaiah's day and God's response to their behavior:
Behold, the LORD'S hand is not so short
That it cannot save; Nor is His ear so 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 (NASB)
God is the perfect display of righteousness and justice and because of that He can have no place with sin. God's Word attest to this in 1 John 1:5-10:
This is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you, that God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth;
1 John 1:5-6 (NASB)
To live my life in pursuit of all things but God is to literally exist without truly living. I was made in His image...in order to glorify Him. I am living a lie to say I do not need God as a part of my life. I exist because of Him! Yet, that disregard for God comes so natural to me. I savor God's grace when I am in the midst of my deepest need and as the status of my life improves, my recognition of God's grace fades. I push Him to the side and let my relationship with God gather dust as I invest my time and interest in other things. For their sin, God allowed Israel to be taken into captivity and it was then, when God's grace was needed, they realized how far they had strayed from their Father:
Therefore justice is far from us,
And righteousness does not overtake us;
We hope for light, but behold, darkness,
For brightness, but we walk in gloom. We grope along the wall like blind men,
We grope like those who have no eyes;
We stumble at midday as in the twilight,
Among those who are vigorous we are like dead men. All of us growl like bears,
And moan sadly like doves;
We hope for justice, but there is none,
For salvation, but it is far from us. For our transgressions are multiplied before You, And our sins testify against us;
For our transgressions are with us,
And we know our iniquities: Transgressing and denying the LORD,
And turning away from our God,
Speaking oppression and revolt,
Conceiving in and uttering from the heart lying words. Justice is turned back,
And righteousness stands far away;
For truth has stumbled in the street,
And uprightness cannot enter.
Isaiah 59:9-14 (NASB)
It is a rather startling transition from idolatry to repentance and mourning. The people were broken when every distraction and material good was ripped away from them and it was then when they realized how far they had strayed from God. It is amazing how God can convict us and change us when our lives are not jammed packed with bloated schedules and constant need for human interaction. We need to take an honest look at our own lives and see where we ignore Him, or even where we even completely close Him out from our lives. Take a second....seriously....take a second now...
What am I doing to glorify God with my daily life?
Do not let sin be the separation that keeps you from doing what you were made to do. God wants us to draw to Him and sometimes that means we have to remove some things from our lives in order to seek after Him.
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Sunday, March 21, 2010
Isaiah 46:3-4
God has been taking me through the book of Isaiah recently and it certainly has been a great time to sit in the Old Testament and absorb God's Word to Israel. The whole book of Isaiah is very cyclical and constantly features the themes of God's complete righteousness, Israel's disregard of God, Israel's punishment for that sin, and their eventual salvation (from captivity and the eventual salvation through Christ) via the work of God. God has encouraged me from this book of His Word in so many ways. He has reminded me of my own sin and disobedience and yet, He has shown me His steady hand throughout my life and that His grace has spanned the entire course of my life. In my being created without arms, in my salvation, in the union with my perfect helpmate and wife Heather, in the cancer diagnosis of my own father, and everywhere in between is God with His perfect grace and justice.
God led me to two verses in Isaiah that began this whole journey through the life of this prophet and those verses are what I want to look at closely:
3 "Listen to Me, O house of Jacob,
And all the remnant of the house of Israel,
You who have been borne by Me from birth
And have been carried from the womb; 4 Even to your old age I will be the same,
And even to your graying years I will bear you!
I have done it, and I will carry you;
And I will bear you and I will deliver you.
Isaiah 46:3-4 (NASB)
One of the things I love about the entire book of Isaiah is how deeply personal it is. God is speaking directly to His people; displaying a deeply intimate knowledge of who they are. Even here in Isaiah 46:3-4 God is speaking directly to His people. In these two verses He uses the pronoun “I” or “Me” seven times, which is a specific reference to Himself. Then the pronoun “you” or “your” is used seven times, which refer to His people. These verses are a specially crafted Word from God to His people of Israel. Yet, though directed at Israel, a Gentile like myself on this side of the cross can read these specific promises and see the character of the Father in whom our faith is placed.
This character of God is one that is unrelenting and constant. He is unchanging and ever present and He wants us to be assured of that. He has borne us and brought us from the womb and He will carry us as our old, graying bodies begin to fail us. All the while He remains in a supernatural steadfastness. In Malachi God says in 3:6 that, “"For I , the LORD, do not change”. His character and His promises do not crumble and do not alter. So much in my life in the past 10 months have changed completely, but my Abba Father remains my Abba Father. He remains, vigilant at my side and that is the amazing part of this verse. He is active in my life.
Every verb in these verses are done on His account and enacted by His strength. These are not passive, mundane things that He is doing. They are life altering actions like being “borne”, “carried”, “delivered”. My strength fails because of my body, or my circumstances, or my lack of faith and yet He remains to bear me in my brokenness and my failings. His permanent sustaining grace is so evident that Isaiah is surprised when people do not recognize it.
28 Do you not know? Have you not heard?
The Everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth
Does not become weary or tired.
His understanding is inscrutable. 29 He gives strength to the weary,
And to him who lacks might He increases power. 30 Though youths grow weary and tired,
And vigorous young men stumble badly,
31 Yet those who wait for the LORD
Will gain new strength;
They will mount up with wings like eagles,
They will run and not get tired,
They will walk and not become weary.
Isaiah 40:28-31 (NASB)
His Grace is there. His Hope is there. His Strength is there. I might not see it or feel it, but it is enveloping me and carrying me along in my life. My circumstances might be crushing in on me and pushing me into some desolate place. Yet, I am called to wait for Him even after I am weary and tired and have bloody knees because of my constant stumbling. Yet, I just have to wait...to rest in His arms and a promise deferred waits...
My Hope and my Salvation
God led me to two verses in Isaiah that began this whole journey through the life of this prophet and those verses are what I want to look at closely:
3 "Listen to Me, O house of Jacob,
And all the remnant of the house of Israel,
You who have been borne by Me from birth
And have been carried from the womb; 4 Even to your old age I will be the same,
And even to your graying years I will bear you!
I have done it, and I will carry you;
And I will bear you and I will deliver you.
Isaiah 46:3-4 (NASB)
One of the things I love about the entire book of Isaiah is how deeply personal it is. God is speaking directly to His people; displaying a deeply intimate knowledge of who they are. Even here in Isaiah 46:3-4 God is speaking directly to His people. In these two verses He uses the pronoun “I” or “Me” seven times, which is a specific reference to Himself. Then the pronoun “you” or “your” is used seven times, which refer to His people. These verses are a specially crafted Word from God to His people of Israel. Yet, though directed at Israel, a Gentile like myself on this side of the cross can read these specific promises and see the character of the Father in whom our faith is placed.
This character of God is one that is unrelenting and constant. He is unchanging and ever present and He wants us to be assured of that. He has borne us and brought us from the womb and He will carry us as our old, graying bodies begin to fail us. All the while He remains in a supernatural steadfastness. In Malachi God says in 3:6 that, “"For I , the LORD, do not change”. His character and His promises do not crumble and do not alter. So much in my life in the past 10 months have changed completely, but my Abba Father remains my Abba Father. He remains, vigilant at my side and that is the amazing part of this verse. He is active in my life.
Every verb in these verses are done on His account and enacted by His strength. These are not passive, mundane things that He is doing. They are life altering actions like being “borne”, “carried”, “delivered”. My strength fails because of my body, or my circumstances, or my lack of faith and yet He remains to bear me in my brokenness and my failings. His permanent sustaining grace is so evident that Isaiah is surprised when people do not recognize it.
28 Do you not know? Have you not heard?
The Everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth
Does not become weary or tired.
His understanding is inscrutable. 29 He gives strength to the weary,
And to him who lacks might He increases power. 30 Though youths grow weary and tired,
And vigorous young men stumble badly,
31 Yet those who wait for the LORD
Will gain new strength;
They will mount up with wings like eagles,
They will run and not get tired,
They will walk and not become weary.
Isaiah 40:28-31 (NASB)
His Grace is there. His Hope is there. His Strength is there. I might not see it or feel it, but it is enveloping me and carrying me along in my life. My circumstances might be crushing in on me and pushing me into some desolate place. Yet, I am called to wait for Him even after I am weary and tired and have bloody knees because of my constant stumbling. Yet, I just have to wait...to rest in His arms and a promise deferred waits...
My Hope and my Salvation
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