Some amazing inspiration in today’s reading! I’d like to focus though specifically on Isaiah 59.

Isaiah 59 begins with one of the favorite passages of those of us who have been prodigal children and went out and wasted our Father’s “money” on riotous living,

“Behold, the Lord’s hand is not so short
That it cannot save;
Nor is His ear so dull
That it cannot hear.”

Oh praise Jesus for this truth!

But if we stop there in Isaiah 59 we miss a very sad reality.

It is true the Lord’s hand is not so short that it cannot save…and His ear is not so dull that He cannot hear…

But He will not save us against our wills.

And Isaiah 59 is a story of people that reject the easiest gift on earth to receive, SALVATION

Isaiah 59 presents this powerful, beautiful, glorious truth and then shows us that people will continue to pursue iniquity and God’s arm won’t force them.

Verse 8 in particular struck me,

“They do not know the way of peace,
And there is no justice in their tracks;
They have made their paths crooked,”

“They have made their paths crooked…”

God didn’t force them. God didn’t choose some to be lost and some to be saved. Our sin is our choice and it makes our path crooked.

This verse caught my attention because of another favorite verse of many,

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart
And do not lean on your own understanding.
6 In all your ways acknowledge Him,
And He will make your paths straight.” -Proverbs 3:5, 6

In this world we have two options…trust our own ways, lean on our own understanding, never acknowledge Him (i.e. pursue all iniquity) and our paths will be crooked.

Accept His arm of grace…

Call out to His ear that is listening for you right now…

And He will make your paths straight.

Which will you choose?

Tomorrow’s Reading: Tomorrow we start the Gospel of immediacy or urgency! Mark 1 & 2

In Job 21 there is an important question that Job presents that many present when suffering,

“Even when I remember, I am disturbed,
And horror takes hold of my flesh.
7 “Why do the wicked still live,
Continue on, also become very powerful?” -Job 21:6 & 7

The question Job is really asking, “Why am I a man that has been faithful to God suffering while my neighbor who openly mocks God not only is not suffering but seems to be gaining power?”

Many a mother and father who have lost a young child, “why not the wicked? Why my innocent child?”

Many a person who has turned their life over to Jesus only to be tormented by the devil, “Why has my life gotten worse when I’ve given my heart to the Lord? And my friends who think it is foolish for me to live for Jesus live on without Him without harm?”

I understand Job’s thoughts here. I believe they are real and fair questions. And even part of his answer is true,

“They spend their days in prosperity,
And suddenly they go down to Sheol.” -Job 21:13

In this life they may seem to not suffer at all, but in the end they go down to sheol…the grave…destruction.

This is true…

While these questions are understandable and legitimate because it is in our human nature to seek understanding, I believe in suffering it is often times hard for us to be rational. I include me in that sentiment.

I say that for this reason…

I’ve known many people far from Jesus that have lost children and I’ve known many people close to Jesus that have lost children.

I’ve known many people that have been ravaged by cancer who never bowed the knee and I know many people ravaged by cancer that every day ’till they died bowed the knee.

I know many rich people that love Jesus and many poor people that hate Him. I know many rich people that hate Jesus and many poor people that love Him.

I know people that love Jesus in unhappy marriages and people that don’t love Jesus in very happy marriages & vice versa.

What is my point. In suffering we sometimes want to look for the ones that we think should be suffering and aren’t and then we start to think “only the good die young” to quote Billy Joel.

Or ask with angst as Job does,

“How often is the lamp of the wicked put out,
Or does their calamity fall on them?” -Job 21:17

My answer to Job would be just as much if not more than the righteous.

In this world evil has no self control and satan hates all humanity, those with Him and those against Him.

And so suffering is in some ways arbitrary.

The righteous live long lives and die young

The wicked live long lives and die young

The righteous get disease

The wicked get disease

Satan hates all humanity.

Here is the one difference…

The righteous at the end of the day know that there is a better day coming and they know that though “in this world they will have trouble” they take hope in knowing that Jesus “has overcome this world” and we believe Jesus’ words, “If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also.”

And so we do not suffer as the world suffers because we suffer with hope knowing one day it will all be gone and we will live eternally with Jesus.

Whatever befalls me in this life by the grace and the strength of Jesus I will go through because my suffering in this life is temporary and Jesus my best friend is on the other side and I cannot wait to see Him face to face and sin free!

Tomorrow’s Reading: Isaiah 56-61

From the first time I read it ’till this day, Psalm 32 remains one of my favorite Psalms…maybe because from the first time I read it ’till now I am very aware of the merciful forgiveness I need in my life.

Verses 1 & 2,

“How blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven,
Whose sin is covered!
2 How blessed is the man to whom the Lord does not impute iniquity,
And in whose spirit there is no deceit!”

are a comparison to the 3rd & 4th verses,

“When I kept silent about my sin, my body wasted away
Through my groaning all day long.
4 For day and night Your hand was heavy upon me;
My vitality was drained away as with the fever heat of summer. Selah.”

and then verse 5a & 5b is a testimony of how he got out of verses 3 & 4 and into the feeling of verses 1 & 2,

“I acknowledged my sin to You,
And my iniquity I did not hide;
I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord”;

Verse 5c is then God’s response to David’s actions in 5a & 5b,

“And You forgave the guilt of my sin. Selah.”

Verse 6a is then an appeal for people when necessary to seek the Lord as he did,

“Therefore, let everyone who is godly pray to You in a time when You may be found;”

And verse 6b is a warning that there will come a time when it is “too late,”

“Surely in a flood of great waters they will not reach him.”

Verse 7 is an expression of gratitude,

“You are my hiding place; You preserve me from trouble;
You surround me with songs of deliverance.”

Verses 8 & 9 is God talking to all of us on how to avoid verses 3 & 4,

“I will instruct you and teach you in the way which you should go;
I will counsel you with My eye upon you. Do not be as the horse or as the mule which have no understanding,
Whose trappings include bit and bridle to hold them in check,
Otherwise they will not come near to you.”

Verse 10 is David speaking from experience as to why we should heed God’s counsel in verses 8 & 9,

Many are the sorrows of the wicked,
But he who trusts in the Lord, lovingkindness shall surround him.

Then verse 11 is the closing statement of encouragement and instruction,

“Be glad in the Lord and rejoice, you righteous ones;
And shout for joy, all you who are upright in heart.

So basically David in 11 verses preached to us an entire sermon on the power of forgiveness…it would take me 25 minutes to paint the picture he painted in 11 verses.

Oh how this sinful man loves and needs the reminder of this beautiful psalm. When I sin don’t wait to go to Jesus run to Him and seek Him and be made whole and then grow from that…don’t be like the horse but listen to God so that I don’t end-up in the same spot again. And finally rejoice because above I was a sinner but as a forgiven sinner I am a righteous one & upright in heart!

Tomorrow’s Reading: Job 21 & 22

In the narrative of these first five chapters from the book of Samuel we see the contrasts between two parents. A humble woman who chooses to give her child fully to the Lord on one hand. The religious leader of the people who is willing to rebuke others (like he did Hannah when he thought she was drunk in the temple) but is unwilling to rebuke his own sons who are making a mockery of the things of God.

The religious leader of the God’s people raised children that were shameful to the cause of God.

The humble, barren woman raised a child that became the religious leader of God’s people.

Which parent are we? Have we dedicated our children fully to God or do we by our own unwillingness to parent in some ways keep them at a distance from God?

Tomorrow’s Reading: Psalms 30-32

There is always an excitement when I read a text and for the first time it hits me as significant. Today that happened,

“When Joseph came to them in the morning and observed them, behold, they were dejected.” Gen. 40:6

What a leader! He was so perceptive that he noticed and cared about the change of countenance in prisoners he was overseeing. I want to be that type of leader.

Now onto the main theme that caught my attention in today’s reading…

Patience that the Lord will work, even if there is delay.

When Joseph interpreted the dreams of the cupbearer and the baker, he said to the cupbearer, “don’t forget me down here. I want out of this house (jail).”

The cupbearer didn’t remember for 2 years.

When Joseph came to power the Bible takes special to care to tell us that Joseph is 30 years old. That caught my attention because the last time the Bible mentioned Joseph’s age was when he was telling his brothers his dreams and they were selling him into slavery…he was 17.

For 13 years Joseph was in bondage. 13 years of suffering. Before one day he is called to shave, put on clean clothes, and stand before Pharaoh and in an instance his life is forever changed.

At least seven years later, but more likely 8 years later his brothers are bending their knee before him just like he dreamed more than 20 years before.

God’s care and word are sure…but sometimes we must have patience for Him to reveal to us His will, His plan, and even His ultimate deliverance from a situation…and when I say wait I don’t mean a week or two…or even a month…most of us are only willing to be patient with God about that much time…

But Joseph shows us that our waiting on the Lord may be years, decades even!

Lord may I trust You and wait on You in all areas of my life even if it means I wait without understanding for years.

Lord help me to patiently wait!

Tomorrow’s Reading: We start a new book, 1 Samuel 1-5

Let us be honest there are some points in these two chapters that are hard for us to swallow in our modern culture and our modern philosophy of thinking.

The first comes in Paul’s call for the church to throw-out the member that is living in open sin, and as Paul points out such a degrading sin that even the pagans would be shocked…Paul obviously didn’t know the pagans of 2016…but I digress. This is a challenge to us because in our modern culture to disfellowship someone even those who are openly sinning and not even fellowshipping with the Lord we refuse to remove from the membership rolls. I remember back at my old church a member wrote a very strongly worded letter against Adventism and then asked to have their name permanently removed, some on my board wanted to deny such a move saying it wasn’t our right whether to remove someone or not. In fact they were correct in this case it wasn’t our right not to remove them, we had to respect the wishes of the individual, but that is not what was meant.

The second challenging concept to our minds is this, Paul states that this removal from the membership is to in fact save the individual that has fallen,

“I have decided to deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of his flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.” 1 Corinthians 5:5

This is a challenge because almost no one in our modern culture believes firm discipline from a church actually works towards the salvation of an individual. By the way…if they repent we don’t kick them out or we let them back in (that is a little preview of 2 Corinthians dealing with this exact story 🙂 )

The third challenging point Paul makes is that we aren’t to hang out with a whole litany of people, but he isn’t talking about those outside who are professed secularists, which I believe means he expects us to spend time with these people, also a challenge to many a Christian mind. No Paul writes we shouldn’t hang-out with those in the church that are known to be living in these ways…which leads to…

The fourth challenge. Paul tells us to judge those within the church. I know, I know, “thou shalt not judge” people use it all the time. The concept is judging the heart of an individual or condemning them to eternal separation from God which did happen in Jesus’ day and probably still does today, but Paul is very clear as was Jesus if we really read His words closely…all of them…we are to judge the sinful actions of our fellow believers…not our preferences or cultural biases. Not our tastes or personal pet peeves but real thus saith The Lord stuff. If someone is smoking and destroying the temple of God we are allowed to say that is sin. The people we aren’t supposed to judge…their actions, are those outside the church. Why? Because I believe the point Paul is making is that those inside the church know better, thus judgement can take place, those outside, don’t and until they do we should not condemn their practices or them in association with their practices.

In chapter 6 the challenges to our modern way of thinking continue!

Challenge number five–we are not to sue our fellow Christians in the worlds courts! Paul tells us we should have enough common sense within the church to decide and mediate such disputes. Wow! Can you imagine that?

Challenge six ties into the above it would be better for us to be wrong and defrauded than to go before the public courts with Christian opposing Christian.

Challenge seven: Paul indicates that it is the intimate act of sex that makes a person one with another. People can’t be frivolous in this area and not therefore expect their hearts to suffer more than with other sin. Paul then amps up the consequences of sexual sin…not the eternal consequences, the person who commits a sexual sin and does not turn away from it and receive the forgiveness of Jesus is not any worse off than the person who was greedy and did not turn away from it and receive the forgiveness of Jesus…but the temporal consequences of sexual sin are more destructive to us here on this earth. I used to think that when Paul writes,

“Every other sin that a man commits is outside the body, but the immoral man sins against his own body.” (1 Cor. 6:18)

That this had something to do with the physical act and the physical consequences I now think due to the statement above about the “two becoming one” the sin is a sin against one’s own body because it damages the heart–the emotions of a person. David told us in the Psalms to, “guard our hearts” our hearts are hurt when we go down this path when not in God’s will. I am thankful for grace that we can get back to glorifying God with our bodies in spite of past mistakes!…but we do walk with a limp after such encounters.

These two chapters have a lot of challenges for those in our modern society. We would be weird if we lived by them but I think we may be more happy.

I like the practical approach of 1 Corinthians thus far…it is easier for me to grasp then the philosophical approach of much of Romans.

Happy Sabbath Y’all!

Tomorrow’s Reading: Genesis 40-43