Your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, “This is the way, walk in it.” Isaiah 30:21
I occasionally become frustrated with the book of Isaiah. Like the other Major Prophets, this book is not easily understood and the narrative thread that holds it together is not always in chronological order. Yet, just when I think I have gleaned all from the book that my weak mind can possibly untangle something new, fresh, and precious jumps from the page.
I had memorized and often drawn comfort from Isaiah 30:21, but never before wondered why the voice of God came from behind His people rather than going on before them. Guides are general up ahead forging the way, not lingering behind. When God guided Moses and roughly three million Israelites through the desert into the Promised Land, He went before them as a cloud by day and a column of fire by night. [1] Jesus said that when He put forth His sheep He would go before them. [2] Yet, here the voice of God comes from behind.
The answer to that riddle starts way back at the beginning of the chapter.
For much of his book of Isaiah is shouting out to the people telling them the exact nature of their sin. This chapter begins the same. The people are rebellious. The people are headstrong. They are sure they have a plan figured out that will keep them safe, but Isaiah shouts a warning of failure.
In verse fifteen, the tone changes and rather than scolding, the prophet relays the tender, pleading voice of God. “For thus says the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel: ‘In returning and rest you shall be saved; / In quietness and confidence shall be your strength.’” There was a way out. There was safety. But, it was not in the direction that the people were heading. Their safety would be in waiting yet they chose instead to scheme, plan and fight the enemy head on.
What is God’s reaction to this? Isaiah tells us: “Therefore the LORD will wait, that He may be gracious to you.” [3] Because the people refused to wait on God, the Holy Creator of the Universe would wait instead for them. There will come a day when they would cry out in their trouble, and what will happen then? “He will be very gracious at the sound of your cry; / When He hears it, He will answer you.” [4] But, because the people had raced ahead with their own plans, when He spoke, they would hear the guiding voice behind them.
No wonder Isaiah calls God’s actions, “very gracious’ [4]. How much more mercy and grace could He show than to both lead the way before us and when we race ahead of His leading, call us from behind? That’s double grace. The kind of grace I often need.
[1] Exodus 13:22
[2] John 4:10
[3] Isaiah 30:18
[4] Isaiah 30:19
Showing posts with label rest. Show all posts
Showing posts with label rest. Show all posts
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
Waiting, Just Like Me
I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how distressed I am till it is accomplished! Luke 12:50
Have you ever thought of Jesus as being forced to wait? The notion may seem strange, but this verse is a quote from His own lips. Our Lord was clearly struggling and longing for some future event to be finished. And, as He waits He is “distressed” about the situation.
This shouldn’t surprise us because Jesus came to earth to live as we live and feel what we feel. He was God, but also fully human and as a human He was forced to wait.
It is commonly thought that Jesus was crucified and resurrected at age thirty-three, but did you ever wonder how scholars know that? The Bible only mentions His age once and that was at twelve years. The next time we see Him, He is an adult launching a preaching career with no mention of how many years stretched between those two events. To find that out, we turn to Jewish tradition and history.
Jesus taught as a rabbi [1] and by Jewish law He could not take that position until past His thirtieth birthday. Assuming He started preaching then and counting the yearly feast recorded until His death, the result is thirty-three years.
Between age twelve and thirty the Bible is silent. We assume Joseph died for he is never mentioned again in scripture although Mary is. If so, that meant Jesus, as firstborn son, would have become responsible for supporting a large family at a very young age. If at twelve He felt the urgency to be about God’s business [2], what must it have been like to wait eighteen more years before He could officially take steps that direction?
By the time Luke 12:50 is recorded, Jesus has been ministering slightly less than three years and the “baptism” He refers to is a metaphor for His fast approaching crucifixion. Step by step Jesus has followed the path His Father laid before Him, but now He can see the end of the journey and is distressed as He waits for the trial to be past.
In the Greek, our Lord described His feelings as “sunecho.” That means to be pressed down, constrained, kept in or compelled. While Jesus waited the emotions He faced were very similar to what we might feel and this is why the writer of Hebrews could say, “We do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. [3]
Are you being forced to wait today? Do you feel the days crawling by one at a time and wonder if you have been forgotten by God? Lift up your head! God is not asleep. Jesus knows exactly what you feel and how hard it is. After all, He waited, too.
[1] John 20:16
[2] Luke 2:49
[3] Hebrews 4:15
Have you ever thought of Jesus as being forced to wait? The notion may seem strange, but this verse is a quote from His own lips. Our Lord was clearly struggling and longing for some future event to be finished. And, as He waits He is “distressed” about the situation.
This shouldn’t surprise us because Jesus came to earth to live as we live and feel what we feel. He was God, but also fully human and as a human He was forced to wait.
It is commonly thought that Jesus was crucified and resurrected at age thirty-three, but did you ever wonder how scholars know that? The Bible only mentions His age once and that was at twelve years. The next time we see Him, He is an adult launching a preaching career with no mention of how many years stretched between those two events. To find that out, we turn to Jewish tradition and history.
Jesus taught as a rabbi [1] and by Jewish law He could not take that position until past His thirtieth birthday. Assuming He started preaching then and counting the yearly feast recorded until His death, the result is thirty-three years.
Between age twelve and thirty the Bible is silent. We assume Joseph died for he is never mentioned again in scripture although Mary is. If so, that meant Jesus, as firstborn son, would have become responsible for supporting a large family at a very young age. If at twelve He felt the urgency to be about God’s business [2], what must it have been like to wait eighteen more years before He could officially take steps that direction?
By the time Luke 12:50 is recorded, Jesus has been ministering slightly less than three years and the “baptism” He refers to is a metaphor for His fast approaching crucifixion. Step by step Jesus has followed the path His Father laid before Him, but now He can see the end of the journey and is distressed as He waits for the trial to be past.
In the Greek, our Lord described His feelings as “sunecho.” That means to be pressed down, constrained, kept in or compelled. While Jesus waited the emotions He faced were very similar to what we might feel and this is why the writer of Hebrews could say, “We do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. [3]
Are you being forced to wait today? Do you feel the days crawling by one at a time and wonder if you have been forgotten by God? Lift up your head! God is not asleep. Jesus knows exactly what you feel and how hard it is. After all, He waited, too.
[1] John 20:16
[2] Luke 2:49
[3] Hebrews 4:15
Saturday, January 23, 2010
His Pasture
Psalm 100:3 Know that the Lord, He is God; It is who has made us and not we ourselves. We are His people and the sheep of His pasture.
God uses many words to describe His relationship with us. We are called His children [1], people [2], possession [3], treasure [4], bride [5] and more. But one of the most common metaphors in both Old and New Testaments is that we are His sheep [6] and when He calls us by that name, the Bible often adds that we are kept within His pasture [7].
I don’t know a lot about sheep, but I do know pastures. I owned several when I lived on the ranch and as I think of being His sheep, the idea of dwelling in His pasture strikes a deep chord.
A pasture is by definition a portion of ground with boundaries where livestock are confided by fences or even sharp-toothed dogs whose sole purpose is to make sure the animals stay where they are supposed to be. My animals, like all others, liked to roam, but I ignored their fleeting wants. They were stuck within the boundaries I designated whether they liked it or not. I knew what was best and fences were not an option.
One of the curious things about livestock is they seem to have a built-in need to know where the fences are. If I bought a new animal or changed pastures with ones that had been under my care for years, the first thing they did was walk the fence. I’d open the bars of the trailer and they would stumble into the light blinking at the freedom of a new place. They might pause briefly or perhaps take a few bites of grass, but it wouldn’t be long until they started off in a straight line and walked until they could go no further.
Once they found the limit, they would push and examine and taste until they knew exactly what kind of barrier held them. Then, they would walk again, circumventing the entire pasture while pausing now and again to test the fence. Was there a hole they could squeeze through? If they leaned against it, did it stand? Did the barbed wire hurt too much if they pushed against it?
Eventually, convince that the fence could not be breached, they would settle down and become part of the heard. When that happened, they were finally in a position to enjoy the bounty I had provided.
The idea of a pasture is one way I find comfort when life throws a up barrier. I just think about being in the Lord’s pasture. Not that it is always comfortable and I don’t occasionally long for grass on the other side of the fence, but I know who owns the place where I live and spend my days. This is not a haphazard chunk of extra ground. It doesn’t belong to Satan. And, it doesn’t belong to the sheep. This pasture was allotted to me, personally. It belongs to a Shepherd who is kind and holds my best interest close to His heart.
[1] Ps.82:6; John 21:5
[2] Exodus 6:7; Luke 1:68
[3] Ephesians 1:14
[4] Matthew 13:44
[5] Revelation 21:2
[6] Psalm 78:52; John 10:14
[7] Psalm 74:1; 79:13; 95:7; 100:3; Jeremiah 23:1; Ezekiel 34:31; John 10:9
God uses many words to describe His relationship with us. We are called His children [1], people [2], possession [3], treasure [4], bride [5] and more. But one of the most common metaphors in both Old and New Testaments is that we are His sheep [6] and when He calls us by that name, the Bible often adds that we are kept within His pasture [7].
I don’t know a lot about sheep, but I do know pastures. I owned several when I lived on the ranch and as I think of being His sheep, the idea of dwelling in His pasture strikes a deep chord.
A pasture is by definition a portion of ground with boundaries where livestock are confided by fences or even sharp-toothed dogs whose sole purpose is to make sure the animals stay where they are supposed to be. My animals, like all others, liked to roam, but I ignored their fleeting wants. They were stuck within the boundaries I designated whether they liked it or not. I knew what was best and fences were not an option.
One of the curious things about livestock is they seem to have a built-in need to know where the fences are. If I bought a new animal or changed pastures with ones that had been under my care for years, the first thing they did was walk the fence. I’d open the bars of the trailer and they would stumble into the light blinking at the freedom of a new place. They might pause briefly or perhaps take a few bites of grass, but it wouldn’t be long until they started off in a straight line and walked until they could go no further.
Once they found the limit, they would push and examine and taste until they knew exactly what kind of barrier held them. Then, they would walk again, circumventing the entire pasture while pausing now and again to test the fence. Was there a hole they could squeeze through? If they leaned against it, did it stand? Did the barbed wire hurt too much if they pushed against it?
Eventually, convince that the fence could not be breached, they would settle down and become part of the heard. When that happened, they were finally in a position to enjoy the bounty I had provided.
The idea of a pasture is one way I find comfort when life throws a up barrier. I just think about being in the Lord’s pasture. Not that it is always comfortable and I don’t occasionally long for grass on the other side of the fence, but I know who owns the place where I live and spend my days. This is not a haphazard chunk of extra ground. It doesn’t belong to Satan. And, it doesn’t belong to the sheep. This pasture was allotted to me, personally. It belongs to a Shepherd who is kind and holds my best interest close to His heart.
[1] Ps.82:6; John 21:5
[2] Exodus 6:7; Luke 1:68
[3] Ephesians 1:14
[4] Matthew 13:44
[5] Revelation 21:2
[6] Psalm 78:52; John 10:14
[7] Psalm 74:1; 79:13; 95:7; 100:3; Jeremiah 23:1; Ezekiel 34:31; John 10:9
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
Feeling Blessed Today?
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places Ephesians 1:3>
Do you feel blessed today? You should! The truth is that your ARE blessed whether you recognize that fact or not. The blessings are flowing all around you. God’s Word says so!
One of the nicest things about Ephesians 1:3 is that the verbs are past tense. God HAS blessed us. Not that He is planning on blessing us someday or that He may bless if we faithfully stick it out through the hard times. No, this is a done deal. It is finished. Settled, Complete. Nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it. This blessing of God has already happened!
We sometimes experience a pleasing event and declare ourselves “blessed” because the event feels good and we are grateful. There is nothing wrong with that. Happy and at times unexpected things do indeed come from our Father. But, those are not the kind of blessings referred to in Ephesians. The past-tense, done-deal blessings that Paul focuses on are spiritual blessings found in heavenly places. That’s what makes them superior to and more to be desired than any feel-good, pleasing for the moment events we may encounter.
This world is passing away. If you are “blessed” with good health today, it will fade as you age. If you are “blessed” with a good job and new car, both will eventually vanish. Earthly events, things and circumstances are like that. They come, and they go. But things in the heavenly realm last: Character growth, knowing how to be content, recognizing the smile of God, eternal life and eternal rewards; these things don’t fade. They are here to be enjoyed now and only multiply as we pass through this life and into eternity.
Right now—today—God’s smile is toward those who are bought by the blood of Jesus (Romans 8:1) His favor is raining down (Ezekiel 34:26) God seeks our good, not our hurt (Jeremiah 29:1). He has made us accepted in the beloved (Ephesians 1:6). Nothing and no one can ever separate us from His Divine protection (Romans 8:31-35). We are citizens of heaven (Philippians 3:19-21 NKJV). We are blessed to such a degree that the God of Glory has even destined us to be kings and priest before Him forever (Revelation 1:6).
We have all these things because we have experience a royal birth (I Peter 1:23). And, just like earthly royalty, our birth status doesn’t change. No matter where we are, no matter what our circumstance, no matter if others recognize it or even if we ourselves deny it (II Timothy 2:13) once born royal, we can never be unborn.
Lift up your head today. You ARE blessed and there is nothing your day or your world can throw at you today that will make your status any different.
Do you feel blessed today? You should! The truth is that your ARE blessed whether you recognize that fact or not. The blessings are flowing all around you. God’s Word says so!
One of the nicest things about Ephesians 1:3 is that the verbs are past tense. God HAS blessed us. Not that He is planning on blessing us someday or that He may bless if we faithfully stick it out through the hard times. No, this is a done deal. It is finished. Settled, Complete. Nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it. This blessing of God has already happened!
We sometimes experience a pleasing event and declare ourselves “blessed” because the event feels good and we are grateful. There is nothing wrong with that. Happy and at times unexpected things do indeed come from our Father. But, those are not the kind of blessings referred to in Ephesians. The past-tense, done-deal blessings that Paul focuses on are spiritual blessings found in heavenly places. That’s what makes them superior to and more to be desired than any feel-good, pleasing for the moment events we may encounter.
This world is passing away. If you are “blessed” with good health today, it will fade as you age. If you are “blessed” with a good job and new car, both will eventually vanish. Earthly events, things and circumstances are like that. They come, and they go. But things in the heavenly realm last: Character growth, knowing how to be content, recognizing the smile of God, eternal life and eternal rewards; these things don’t fade. They are here to be enjoyed now and only multiply as we pass through this life and into eternity.
Right now—today—God’s smile is toward those who are bought by the blood of Jesus (Romans 8:1) His favor is raining down (Ezekiel 34:26) God seeks our good, not our hurt (Jeremiah 29:1). He has made us accepted in the beloved (Ephesians 1:6). Nothing and no one can ever separate us from His Divine protection (Romans 8:31-35). We are citizens of heaven (Philippians 3:19-21 NKJV). We are blessed to such a degree that the God of Glory has even destined us to be kings and priest before Him forever (Revelation 1:6).
We have all these things because we have experience a royal birth (I Peter 1:23). And, just like earthly royalty, our birth status doesn’t change. No matter where we are, no matter what our circumstance, no matter if others recognize it or even if we ourselves deny it (II Timothy 2:13) once born royal, we can never be unborn.
Lift up your head today. You ARE blessed and there is nothing your day or your world can throw at you today that will make your status any different.
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Resting Where Glory Abides Isaiah 10:11
Americans are busy people. Work, home, civic duties, sports, kids, social activities and school all demand a share of our time. When Christians add to that mix a variety of church activities and responsibilities, it’s a wonder any of us find time to even bathe and sleep. Busy is not just our nature, it is our culture and demanded by modern life!
That isn’t all bad. There is joy in activity and value in feeling productive. Laziness was considered by the early church to be one of the seven deadly sins. Paul gave honor to all activity when he instructed the Corinthian Christians that whatever they did they should “do all to the glory of God” (I Cor.10:31). His statement almost equates doing with glorifying God, and if we had no other scriptures on the subject that might surely be the case.
But, good things can end up becoming detrimental when we let them drift out of balance and I suspect we may have done just that with our highly prized busyness. It is not only “doing” that glorifies God, but “resting” as well.
When God designed commands for moral behavior and worship attitudes, He included instruction that one day of the week was to be devoted to rest. Resting on that day was a way of bringing honor and glory to God. It was as much a good thing to rest as it was to refrain from stealing.
We should not be surprised at this because God, Himself, takes time to rest (Gen. 2:2). Although He does not need physical refreshment like we creatures of clay, He found rhythm and balance of work/rest to be a valuable thing and declared it “good.” Isaiah tell us that the resting place of God is a glorious thing (Isaiah 10:11b). Just as the day has one type of glory and the night another (I Cor. 15:41) so giving God glory through our work is one way we honor Him, but it is also true that we glorify Him by resting.
How sad when we only see activity as a way to glorify God and miss the glory of resting. In the classic, Celebration of Discipline, Richard Foster considers the word of Satan and states, “In contemporary society our Adversary majors in three things: noise, hurry and crowds. If he can keep us engaged in “muchness” and manyness,” he will rest satisfied.”
That is a sobering thought we should all take to heart.
That isn’t all bad. There is joy in activity and value in feeling productive. Laziness was considered by the early church to be one of the seven deadly sins. Paul gave honor to all activity when he instructed the Corinthian Christians that whatever they did they should “do all to the glory of God” (I Cor.10:31). His statement almost equates doing with glorifying God, and if we had no other scriptures on the subject that might surely be the case.
But, good things can end up becoming detrimental when we let them drift out of balance and I suspect we may have done just that with our highly prized busyness. It is not only “doing” that glorifies God, but “resting” as well.
When God designed commands for moral behavior and worship attitudes, He included instruction that one day of the week was to be devoted to rest. Resting on that day was a way of bringing honor and glory to God. It was as much a good thing to rest as it was to refrain from stealing.
We should not be surprised at this because God, Himself, takes time to rest (Gen. 2:2). Although He does not need physical refreshment like we creatures of clay, He found rhythm and balance of work/rest to be a valuable thing and declared it “good.” Isaiah tell us that the resting place of God is a glorious thing (Isaiah 10:11b). Just as the day has one type of glory and the night another (I Cor. 15:41) so giving God glory through our work is one way we honor Him, but it is also true that we glorify Him by resting.
How sad when we only see activity as a way to glorify God and miss the glory of resting. In the classic, Celebration of Discipline, Richard Foster considers the word of Satan and states, “In contemporary society our Adversary majors in three things: noise, hurry and crowds. If he can keep us engaged in “muchness” and manyness,” he will rest satisfied.”
That is a sobering thought we should all take to heart.
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