Zechariah 13 & 14 -- What An Ending!

Wow!  The events described here would be something to witness!  The song There Is A Fountain came to mind as I started reading:  “At that time, a fountain will be open for David’s descendants and for the people of Jerusalem to cleanse them of their sin and uncleanness.”  Will this be when they recognize Jesus for what He did to remove their sins?

Then to hear God telling about the death of His Son – “Sword, hit the shepherd.  Attack the man who is My friend … Kill the shepherd, and the sheep will scatter” [Israel will no longer be a nation, my commentary explained]. 

The news at that time will certainly be worth watching.  All the nations will attack Jerusalem.  Half the people will become POW’s.  “Then the Lord will go to war against those nations.  He will fight …”  That will not be the day to be on the wrong side!  “He will stand on the Mount Of Olives …. It will split in two, forming a deep valley that runs east and west … Then the Lord my God will come and all the holy ones with Him.”  Oh, to see that!

Cosmic changes will occur.  There will no longer be temperature variations.  There will always be light – no day or night.

“Then the Lord will be king over the whole world.”

Those who came to fight against Jerusalem will suffer a terrible fate similar to what happens to bodies during a nuclear blast.  Their animals will suffer a similar fate.

Everyone left in the world will make annual pilgrimages to Jerusalem to worship God and celebrate the Feast Of Shelters, or else they will suffer drought and suffer from the same disease that befell those who fought.  Everything in Jerusalem will be holy and sacred – no difference between the sacred and the secular, my commentary said.

Father, at that time it will be impossible for anyone to deny that You exist and that the words in the Bible are absolutely true.  They will all see just how wrong they have been.  I pray that many will come to understand this while there is still time.  We know the future – You win!  I want them to know it, too, and to come to you rather than having to endure this.  Make it so, Father.  Make it so.

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

Zechariah 11 & 12 -- Hold On... The World's In For A Bumpy Ride

I’ll bet Zechariah was wondering if his mind was about to blow with all of these prophecies running through it!

The Roman government would, in the near term, decimate and subjugated the land.  God says, “The flock [Judah] did not pay attention to Me, and I got impatient with them.  I said, ‘I will no longer take care of you like a shepherd.’”  The nation of Israel had presumed upon God’s grace for far too long.

Zechariah breaks one staff, symbolizing God “annulling the covenant that restrained the Gentiles from oppressing God’s people” and a second staff, breaking the unity between Judah and Israel and leading to disunity and internal strife between the Jews, my commentary said.

Prophecies of the events surrounding Jesus’ death included the 30 pieces of silver paid to Judas and his subsequent casting off of the money and the use of it to bury him in a potter’s field.

Our church age lies hidden in the cracks between verses 14 & 15 of chapter 11, my commentary noted.

Prophecies of the anti-Christ follow, then the attack on Jerusalem by all of the other nations and God’s protection of the Jewish people during the attacks.  Even though His patience had worn out, His protection and love are still there.

It’s at this point that the veil will be lifted and the Jews will mourn bitterly over their rejection of the Messiah.  Jesus says here:  “They will look at Me, the One they have stabbed, and they will cry like someone crying over the death of an only child.  They will be as sad as someone who has lost a firstborn son.”  Sad like God was over Jesus having to die for our sins.

Each family will separate itself and will mourn and determine their own culpability in His death.  My commentary said, “True confession requires us to be alone with God.”

Father, how awesome it would be to see the Jewish nation’s eyes opened, and to have them join us in mourning what Your Son had to endure to save us from our sins.  Yet I pray that You will have Him take us to You before that terrible time comes.

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

Zechariah 9 & 10 -- What A Doer and a Blesser!

Want to be impressed with how God will intervene for His people?  Read all of the “I will’s” in these chapters!  Look back with 20/20 hindsight to see all of the references to Jesus in these chapters – both for His first Advent and for His triumphant return.

I had during an earlier study written in some other Bible verses that were echoed in these verses.  In 9:10, God talks about taking away Israel’s chariots and horses, which reminded me of one of the key verses from Experiencing God – “Some trust in horses, some trust in chariots, but we trust in the Lord our God.”

In 9:12, “You prisoners who have hope, return to your place of safety” reminds me of Psalm 91:  “God is my refuge” and following that, it says, “Today I am telling you that I will give you back twice as much as before.”  That reminded me of God’s promises to “restore what the moth has eaten” and His words in Malachi about opening the storehouses of heaven.

But the thing I loved the best was 10:6, where God said, “I will strengthen … and save … I will bring them back, because I care about them.  It will be as though I had never left them.”

Just think of what that last sentence would entail!  God would either have to go back and redo time to make the leaving never happen, or else He would bless them so much and draw them so near to Him that the entire memory and history of the exile and captivity would be wiped out in their minds!  They’d be so blessed that they’d never have a chance to recall being apart from Him!

Father, Your sovereignty is so awesome, as is Your ability to bless!  These verses remind me of how You’ve changed my life by drawing me so much closer to You and blessed me by restoring what the moth had eaten of my spiritual life, giving me two boys that are the joy of my life.  And like what I just described, I can’t even remember a time without them!  Thank You for helping me to trust in You and nothing else!

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

Zechariah 5-8 -- What Our Church SHOULDN'T Look Like

A church delegation from Bethel came to Zechariah to ask God several things.  The answers they received were incredibly insightful.

They asked if they should continue to hold the twice-a-year fasts they’d begun over 70 years before which commemorated the capture and destruction of Jerusalem. 

God’s answer was that they’d instituted the fasts by themselves.  He had not commanded them.  Both their fasting and the feasting that followed had been solely for themselves and not for Him.  They’d been following this empty ritual for SEVENTY YEARS!  Imagine our church having started something in 1941 and continuing it to this day, only to find out that it meant nothing to God, but instead was only a hollow shell of religious performance.  My commentary said that the former prophets had warned the people that God wants righteousness and reality rather than ritual.  It also said, “Ordinances, whatever they may do, never take the place of practical righteousness, and still less of faith, in the sight of God.”

The sidebar in my Bible picked up this same thought:  “A church may have a beautiful choir singing uplifting songs with theologically correct words, a tremendous organ, and a beautiful sanctuary, but if the people’s hearts are far from God and there is no foundation of prayer, worship does not take place.  It is an empty experience… The beauty of a service often has little to do with how conducive it is to worship … Worship takes place because God is pleased to be there.”

Father, I’d hate to think that we might be doing something for 70 years that was meaningless to You.  I want us to experience You in worship, and as my sidebar says, that depends on our commitment and attitude toward you and an awareness of the presence of Your Spirit.  Help us to examine all that we do to make certain we aren’t like the people You described here.  We want You to be pleased to be with us.

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

Zechariah 1-4 -- God's Thoughts In Zechariah's Dreams

Israel was a mess.  The people didn’t know what their future might hold.  Yet God spoke through Zechariah to encourage them.  He spoke of the Temple being rebuilt and Jerusalem being restored.  They probably didn’t understand that this prophecy would have multiple layers, representing their near future all the way to the second advent of Christ.

God’s loving watchcare over His people, despite the many times they’ve failed Him and will fail Him by sinning, seems to be a running theme.  Perhaps my favorite quotation from God in the entire Bible is found in 2:8 –

“…whoever touches you hurts what is precious to Me.”

WOW!  God says I am precious to Him.  He’s there to protect me and to avenge me – despite all I’ve done!

God also gave Zechariah multiple references to Jesus here, and Jesus is even quoted:

“I am coming, and I will live among you.  At that time people from many nations will join with the Lord and will become My people.  Then I will live among you, and you will know that the Lord All-Powerful has sent Me to you.”

Father, thanks for loving me despite my sins.  Thanks for giving Zechariah a picture of me, and a Gentile, coming to Christ.  It’s like Abraham being shown all the stars by God, and knowing that one of them had been lit for me.  Your watchcare and love for me is beyond understanding and comprehension, but I thank You all the same.  What a marvelous and wonderful God You are!

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

Titus 1-3 -- What The Trouble-Shooter Is To Look For

My commentary describes Titus as a trouble-shooter that Paul sent “to correct doctrinal and ethical disorders” in different churches.  So his presence in a church pretty well presumed that there was something that needed fixing.

Paul was tasking Titus with appointing elders in every town.  He describes elders “as God’s managers.”  My commentary said that in Paul’s time, all the believers in the first churches were novices, but as time passed, “the Lord prepared certain ones for this important ministry.”  That preparation included the building up of a man’s desire to do no wrong, breaking down his desire to be selfish, and taming his desire to become angry quickly.  These aren’t normal responses for the human male, but they are totally necessary for God’s managers.

As a trouble-shooter, Titus was tasked with teaching specific things to specific groups in each church.  Perhaps God is showing us through these words what each such group is susceptible to struggling with. 

Older men were to be taught to work on their self-control, their seriousness, and the continual use of the wisdom they should have attained over the years.  There were also three areas of their lives that required continual strengthening:  their faith, their display of love to others, and their patience.  It would therefore sound like older men would do well to daily prepare a scorecard to see how well they were doing in each of these areas.

The trouble-shooter was tasked with straightening out older women as well.  Their daily scorecard would ask them to rate how well they’d done at holy behavior, not speaking against others, and teaching good things.  Again, it would appear that in every church Paul was seeing that these issues could become problems for the church if not addressed in the lives of older women.

For young men, the trouble-shooter was to encourage them to be wise, to think through their potential actions and reactions before making their decisions to act.  They also were to be so absorbed with doing good deeds that others would learn to desire to do them by their examples.

How was Titus to relay all of this and get people to live it all out?  Paul says God’s grace isn’t just there to save us, but also to teach us to live in these ways.  How does His grace do that?  It would seem by helping us realize where we’d be without it.  We were made right with God by His grace, and we therefore will be careful to use the rest of our lives for doing good and not for being useless.

As we age, we move from one group to the next as men, and it will be very important for us to begin gauging ourselves regarding the things the trouble-shooter has been told often cause problems for the group we are entering, so that a trouble-shooter isn’t needed in our church.

Father, help us honestly evaluate our own lives within the church to see whether there is any evidence that we may be part of a problem rather than part of a solution.  Let us look in the mirror first, before daring to look at each other.  Heal what needs healing in our church to make us more like what Paul knew a church should be like.

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

Ezra 9 & 10 -- Something WE Need To Do

Ezra found out upon arriving in Jerusalem that many of the former captives who’d returned had broken the prohibition God had ordained about marrying non-Jewish people.  His people were to be set apart, holy, and unmixed with the world.  Despite the grace He’d shown in preserving the remnant through the captivity and inclining the minds of the foreign kings to actually pay for the reconstruction of Jerusalem and the Temple, even some of the priests and Levites had thought so little of this prohibition that they’d married outside their people.

Ezra was shocked at the news, even pulling out the hairs of his head and beard by the roots!  At the evening sacrifice, the people watched as he fell to his knees and cried out to God.  He made the people’s sin his own, saying, “My God, I am too ashamed and embarrassed to lift up my face to You, my God, because our sins are so many.  They are higher than our heads … But now, our God, what can we say after You have done all this?  We have disobeyed your commands … What has happened to us is our OWN fault.  We have done evil things, and our guilt is great.  But You, or God, have punished us less than we deserve; You have left a few of us alive … We admit that we are guilty and none of us should be allowed to stand before You.”

The world today would look at Ezra and deride his taking-on of the sins of others as ridiculous.  After all, he hadn’t done anything, and they were quite happy to be doing it, so his petitioning would mean nothing to them.  Thankfully, that’s not the way the Jewish remnant reacted.  Despite heavy rains and the short notice, they all came from their surrounding towns and gathered together.  They agreed with Ezra and with God about their sin, and they set up a process to disentangle themselves from the mess they’d made of their lives in the face of God’s grace.

I believe we’ve lost something as a nation by our lack of nationally recognizing and admitting OUR sin to God.  The likelihood of our countrymen reacting in this way is incredibly remote.  Yet what an impact it would have if each of us felt responsible for all of our citizens – if we believed that we could and should confront sin in love and call for repentance.  Multiculturalism has taken us so far down the road leading away from God, in the name of individual rights that I fear we may not be able to find our way back.

One thing I noticed about the reaction of the people in these chapters was the complaint about the rain.  Rain is a blessing from God, and it’s been so very long since we’ve seen substantial rain here – almost 10 months!  The rain represented God’s purification and grace.  Perhaps they could have thanked Him for washing them clean of their sins and for still providing rain despite their sins.  Instead, it became an excuse to extend the process of repentance.

Father, help each and every Christian in our nation to own up to the collective sins of our nation.  I need to do this, too, rather than simply thinking it’s not my fault.  Evil thrives when good men do nothing.  Lead us as a nation to the kind of national repentance we see in Ezra.  Bring us back from the abyss.

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

Ezra 7 & 8 -- The Task Before Us

Ezra now had a clearly-defined task – some 60 years after the events of chapter 6, the pagan king in power recognized Ezra as a man who knew and practiced the rules God had given Moses.  He sent Ezra to Jerusalem to insure that these rules were being followed.  (Even a pagan king was able to understand that following God’s law brought blessings that might otherwise be missed.)  The king was willing to put his money where his mouth was, and his respect for Ezra’s God shows up in several passages:  “… as God wishes … use the royal treasury to pay for anything … Give him whatever he wishes … carefully give him whatever the God of heaven wants … use the wisdom you have from your God …”

Following the recitation of the king’s letter, Ezra praised God “for directing the king’s heart and humbly thanked Him for the enabling strength He gave to undertake such an import work,” my commentary said.

As I read this, I began to think about the important task our youth minister search committee has before us.  Like Ezra, we can already thank God for moving the hearts of those willing to serve and the hearts of the people of our church to approve those selected for the task.  We can also humbly thank Him for His enabling strength being given to the committee members as we both come to terms with the hole left by the departure of the Ponders and the enormity of the task of finding the man God has already been preparing for this position even though both he and the committee are currently unaware of God’s selection having already been made!

Ezra directed a time of inspection and introspection when he discovered that no Levites had signed up for the task before them.  Likewise, Ezra felt that requesting a military escort would show lack of faith in God to provide, so a time of prayer and fasting was called to ask God for this important mercy.

The 3.5 month trip was seen as evidence that God had heard and answered their requests.  Otherwise, it might have taken much longer to travel.

I feel God speaking through these verses to us about the important task before us as well.  He has provided, is providing, and will provide.  We need to acknowledge this help and accept it.  Whatever the time frame facing us, it will be immensely shortened by our faithful prayer and preparation time, and someday we, like Ezra, will be able to look back and see God’s hand having guided us to exactly the man He has prepared for us.  We must simply be faithful and humble as we set out on this task.

Father, I look back at what You’ve already done through the last three youth ministers I’ve had the privilege of working with.  I anxiously await the time when You will reveal the next one.  Let the time pass quickly, and lead us to the man You’ve already prepared for us.

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

Ezra 3-6 -- Lead, Follow, Or Get OUT Of The Way!

I can’t understand why some people just seem to think they have some kind of duty to interfere with whatever is going on that’s constructive.  As I read these chapters, I thought about how hard the Jewish people were working to complete the Temple, and how equally hard the naysayers were trying to get the government to halt their progress, when it would mean absolutely nothing to them if the Temple was completed. 

Was it out of sheer meanness, stubbornness, or some sense of empowerment that they just had to butt in?  Satan was goading them on, that was certain. 

But God caused the new ruler to find out the truth, and as a result, the ruler told the complainers to get out of the way.  How I wish that God would do the same through our rulers today. 

Father, please frustrate the efforts of those who would seek to halt or stifle our worship of You now.  Let them discover that they are nothing compared to You, and let the structure of this unique nation that You put together over 200 years ago work for Your will and not be used  against it. 

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

Ezra 1 & 2 -- Settling For Less Than God's Best

Around 50,000 people decided to return to Jerusalem once Cyrus allowed it.  They would be returning to little of nothing, but they were taking a great deal with them.  In addition to their clothing, bedding, and the food they’d need for the extended journey, they were carrying gold and silver.  Almost 4 tons of the metals were being transported for use in rebuilding the Temple.  There’s no telling how much more they were taking for use as currency. 

 As I thought about those people, and about those who evidently were choosing to stay in Babylon rather than return home, I came up with several questions:

 For those who were returning, most had probably been born in captivity.  They hadn’t seen their homeland or really known what the Temple and the palaces had even looked like.  They just knew that it was home and it was where they were supposed to be.  They were possessed of a spirit that motivated them to make something that had been ordained by God .

 Those who’d chosen not to go had settled – settled in a foreign land and settled for a life that was less than God had intended for them to have.  Yet it was their choice.  They may have been believers, but most likely not achievers.

 For those headed to Jerusalem, life wouldn’t be easy at first.  There’d be few homes, little or no infrastructure, little commerce.  But they’d be doing what they were meant to be doing.  That’s what really mattered.

 So what about today?  We need to keep asking ourselves the questions:  “Are we doing what we’re supposed to be doing?  Are we putting off what needs to be done?  Have we bothered to inquire of God about what we’re to do?  Have we settled for less than His best?”

 Father, I’m glad that You got me up this morning to read through your Word and to think about these questions.  Keep them on my mind for the remaining days we have here in Hawaii, and for the days to come.  Don’t let me settle for less than Your best for me or my boys.  Guide us in knowing Your will.

 Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

Isaiah 64 -- God's Anger vs. God's Disappointment

The disadvantage of having an “oceanview” room is that the ocean pounds against the rocks on the beach all night long.  It was especially loud last night, and I think God used some of those 10’ waves to get me up this morning for a normal quiet time, with the boys still asleep.  Those powerful waves crashing over those rocks seem so powerful, yet Isaiah’s description of God overwhelms even them:

“Tear open the skies and come down to earth so that the mountains will tremble before You …. Let Your enemies know who You are.”  

We’re supposed to go see mountains that tremble tomorrow as they belch lava.  It wouldn’t be hard to imagine that happening.  The tone of that second part though doesn’t seem evangelistic.  It sounds vengeful.  But it changes in verse 4: 

“From long ago no one has ever heard of a God like You … who helps the people who trust You.  You help those who enjoy doing good, who remember how You want them to live.  But You were angry because we sinned.  For a long time we disobeyed, so how can we be saved?  All of us are dirty with sin.  All the right things we have done are like filthy pieces of cloth.  All of us are like dead leaves, and our sins, like the wind, have carried us away.”

Man, it’s so important to get to the stage where we openly admit that to God! 

Isaiah had come to know God better than most anyone else at that time (because God allowed him to know Him).  And he signaled something important with that key red flag I always watch for:  “But God…”

“But God, You are our Father.  We are like clay and You are the potter; Your hands made us all.”  Having been shaped by God, then there’s no doubt that He can continue to shape us.  He’s never done with us.

“Lord, don’t continue to be angry with us; don’t remember our sins forever.  Please look at us, because we are Your people.”

We tend to think that we disappoint God.  Isaiah said they ANGERED Him.  The difference has to be because we’ve accepted the sacrifice His Son made for us on the cross, for when He looks at us, He sees His Son.

Father, I’m in need of continual reshaping.  Knock off my rough edges.  Polish me and make me into a reflection of You.  I don’t want to be like those rough, stubborn rocks on the shore below that minute after minute are blasted by those powerful waves yet never seem to respond.

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

Isaiah 63 -- Maybe A Difference Between Us And Them?

It’s tough to get going on my q.t., needing to work on it at night because of our schedules while on vacation.  And without my commentary, I’m at a disadvantage when I don’t quite understand some passages.

God said in verse 4, “I chose a time to punish people, and the time has come for Me to save.”  God had earlier been described as covered in blood, as if from a winepress.  The people had known Him as a punisher, yet now He says He’ll be their Savior.

This causes Isaiah to praise god by telling about God’s kindness in giving many good things.  He said that when the people of Judah suffered, God suffered also.  And because of His love and kindness, He saved them.  When they turned against Him, that made His Holy Spirit very sad, it says.  Knowing they were alienated from God, Isaiah prayed, “Lord, look down from the heavens and see; look at us from Your wonderful and holy home in heaven.  Where is Your strong love and power?  Why are You keeping Your love and mercy from us? … Lord, why are You making us wander from Your ways?  Why do You make us stubborn so that we don’t honor You?  For our sake, come back to us…”

As far as the Israelites go, we know they’d been given judicial blindness by God, which won’t be removed until the second Advent of Christ.  But how would this apply Christians?  Yes, He did show great mercy to us.  Yes, He has been very kind to us.  Yes, He saved us, and yes, when we suffer, He suffers with us.  And we did cause His Holy Spirit sadness by our sins. 

But I think as Christians we do still see His strong love and power.  He doesn’t keep His love and mercy from us unless we have distanced ourselves so far from Him that it becomes His best way to get us back to Himself.

Father, thank you for not visiting us with judicial blindness.  Thank You for continuing to love us and show Your mercy to us.  Guide us with Your Holy Spirit, and help us not to make Him unhappy by our sin.  Like Isaiah, I praise You and will tell of Your kindness.

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

Isaiah 61 & 62 -- A Little Mindbending Today

It’s hard to wrap my mind around the fact that Jesus is doing the talking in verse 61 – that Isaiah was hearing Him and quoting Him as an adult, hundreds of years before He appeared on this earth as a baby in Bethlehem.  My commentary said, “We know that the Lord Jesus is the speaker here because He quoted verses 1-2a in the synagogue at Nazareth (Luke 4:16-21) and added, ‘Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing …’ “

In Isaiah’s time, His words spoke of hope and freedom to those in captivity or about to be in captivity.  They spoke of restoration of the land in the years to come.  Farther along in time, they heralded His incarnation as a baby to Mary and Joseph.  But most importantly, He is also telling us about events during His second coming – particularly how God will redeem His chosen people, will draw them to Himself after lifting the veil of judicial blindness that will have existed for 2,000 years!  The reproach of the world will be removed and in fact the world will readily come to serve Israel in any and every capacity – hungry to be a part of what God will be doing with His chosen people!

To imagine Jesus straddling the millennia, speaking as One Who existed before time, before Creation, and Who will reign forever, equally at home in a manger, with His disciples in a fishing boat, or crowned at the right hand of God, is something our minds have to bend to accept.  There is no uncertainty about anything He says.  He knows and He narrates the future because He is outside of time and has witnessed and is witnessing it all at once.  That certainty on His part and His Father’s part is what drives our faith and helps us “know that I know that I know.”  Our future is in His hands.  He’d already seen it thousands of years ago and spoken of it.  How could we even consider doubting that what He says might fail?  No way!

Father, Your word encourages us about the future at a time when things are looking less and less certain.  Thank You for being my Rock and for providing us a Cleft to hide in – Your Son.  I’m so thankful that You’ve shown us the future.  You win!  And Satan doesn’t just fade out of the picture – He’s whupped, soundly thrashed, and OUT of here!

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

Isaiah 60 -- What's Coming For Israel

For all the grief that Israel has been put through since it was carved out of Palestine over 60 years ago, and especially for what it’s been going through in the last year, these verses herald a true miracle from God coming hopefully in our lifetimes.

Planeloads and ships full of people will be moving to Jerusalem.  Nations who were formerly enemies will give more-than-generously to her, singing praises to God as they do!  Foreigners and their kings will direct rebuilding efforts.  So much wealth and so many goods will be arriving that shipments will be accepted around the clock!

“The nation or kingdom that doesn’t serve you will be destroyed; it will be completely ruined.”  God says it and promises it.  So what’s there to discuss about it?  We’d be idiots to do anything besides supporting Israel!  Her enemies will willingly bow down before her.

As all of the this happens, God says He’s going to remove the judicial blindness that He’d placed on the Jewish people centuries ago, and they will realize through all of these events “that it is I, the Lord, Who saves you.  You will know that the Powerful One of Jacob protects you.”

As if all that wasn’t enough evidence, God also promises, “The sun will no longer be your light during the day, nor will the brightness of the moon be Your light, because the Lord will be your light forever.”  And about His people, God says, “They are the plant I have planted, the work of My own hands to show My greatness.”

Father, this will all be an absolutely awesome sight and proof that You are sovereign over everything and everyone.  Thank You for planting me and for allowing me to see that I am the work of Your own hands to show Your greatness, too, Help me never to disrespect You and Your Name by any of my actions.  I want to be part of all that honors You.

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

Isaiah 59 -- God Suits Up & Takes The Field -- Pay Attention To His Uniform

After enumerating so many of the sins of the people of Judah and Israel, God looked but could find no one to help with all of the injustice running rampant there.  So He suited up to take the field and take care of it Himself:

“He covered Himself with goodness like armor.  He put the helmet of salvation on His head.  He put on the clothes of punishment and wrapped Himself in the coat of His strong love.”

I found that so interesting, in light of what I was reading last night in a new book entitled Tactics.  It spoke of how we see the Father from the middle of our sins.  Some would see Him as a condemner and punisher.  But He is primarily for the believer Abba – Daddy – and we are His precious children.  He loves the one who fails just as much as He loves the one who obeys.  And when we fail, He rushes to pick us up, love on us, and help us through the failure, if we’ll let Him.

Here, we have goodness and salvation as base layers of clothing, punishment covering that, and strong love as the outer shell.  I noticed that punishment was sandwiched between goodness and strong love, sort of like the cream filling of an OREO cookie.  God’s goodness and His strong love for us lead Him to use just the amount of punishment necessary to get our attention and to draw us back to Him when we sin.  If He failed to punish, we wouldn’t respect Him.  If He punished too severely, we’d give up trying.  It’s that strong love that motivates us to return to Him and try again.

Father, thank You for showing me how to be a better father through what I’ve read, and thanks for disciplining me with love when I fail You as a son.  Don’t ever stop.  I need your love and support and Your discipline so that I’ll be able to live in peace in this life.

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

Isaiah 58 -- "Independence From Sin" Day

God left no doubt that He didn’t like what His people were doing.  Even their efforts to be religious had selfish motives, my Bible’s sidebar said.

This chapter has God telling them – and us – exactly what they weren’t doing right, why that was the case, and the things they could be doing with the right motivations, to honor Him.

He scolds them (and us) for doing these things on “worship” days:

·         Being solely concerned about what pleases ourselves

·         Arguing and fighting with other believers

·         Simply bowing our heads like plants, rather than meaning it

·         Showing sadness for appearances only

·         Making trouble for others

·         Using cruel words

·         Pointing fingers at other believers

He wants these types of things done instead:

·         Freeing those unfairly imprisoned (including those we imprison emotionally by our scorn or disdain)

·         Sharing food with the hungry

·         Giving homeless people a place to stay

·         Sharing our clothing with those who need them

·         Helping our own family members rather than depending on non-relatives to do so

·         Feeding the hungry (must be important since He mentioned it twice!)

·         Taking care of the needs of the troubled

·         Honoring the Sabbath with our attitudes

God then tells us that we aren’t doing this just to score points.  He loves our obedience, and He mentions what He’ll do when we obey:

·         He will make “our light” shine like the dawn

·         Our wounds will quickly heal (both physical and emotional wounds)

·         He will walk before us

·         His glory will protect us from behind as well (what we can’t see coming)

·         When we call out to Him, He will say, “Here I am!”

·         He will always lead us

·         He will satisfy our needs in dry lands

·         He’ll give strength to our bones

·         We’ll resemble a well-watered garden

·         We’ll rebuild and repair, and be known for doing so

·         We’ll find joy in the Lord

·         He’ll carry us to the high places above the earth

·         He’ll let us eat the crops of the Promised Land

The sidebar in my Bible, from Loving God by Charles Colson, says we often expect God to do the sin conquering for us.  But there’s a problem with thinking that way.  “The Christian life begins with obedience, depends on obedience, and results in obedience.  We can’t escape it … Really loving God means living out His commands no matter what the cost.”

Father, I came to this very realization yesterday.  I was wanting You to do all the work.  I didn’t want to be responsible for obeying You.  Thanks for Your incredible timing in pointing that out to me this morning!  You knew I needed to hear it!

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford